Infinite Stratos: Athena
by StratoSpear
Summary: A plan that had been concocted since the debut of the Infinite Stratos has been put into motion. One revolving around an ambiguous entity known to a select few as "Athena", which will tie the lives of four individuals; a former AI engineer, a defected weapons specialist, a powered armor pilot and a well-endowed swordswoman, with one another towards one common goal.
1. Chapter 1 - Praxidike

**Pre-Story note:** _As with other fanfics, I do not own Infinite Stratos. Fic-wise, this story is a rewrite/reboot of my previous Athena Trilogy which went under after I, admittedly, neglected it for a period of time and all ideas/plot advancement were lost. _

_For readers who have seen it, this rewrite/reboot also includes addition/omitting of characters, original units and other plot changes from the previous stories to form one single story revolving around the title. Once again, my apologies for sinking the previous trilogy. I'll be sure to keep this one running to the proper end._

_For readers who are new to this fic, this is an AU fic centered around four OCs. It's loosely tied with canon events since most, if not all major events of this fic, takes place **outside** canon's point of view._

* * *

**Infinite Stratos: Athena**

**Chapter 1: Praxidike**

* * *

**========== Ten years ago, Togane, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

It is a bittersweet atmosphere at a cemetery in the peaceful village of Tanaka where young _Inami Arisawa_, donned in grey kimono with a sash of matching color tied around his waist, stood before the family grave of his late parents; his father, _Kazuya Arisawa_, and mother, _Naomi Arisawa_. Held in the gentle grip of his hands is a single blue-petal Japanese lily, which he then kneels down and places the flower on the base of the gravestone where his parents' names are engraved.

As Inami closes his eyes and is about to pray, he sees at the corner of his eyes another figure walking into the cemetery grounds. Dressed in sky blue kimono with a wide white sash around her waist, young _Tsurugi Katami_ sees him all alone, paying almost no attention to the surroundings. Her long brownish hair waves to the gentle breeze that sweeps across the cemetery ground as she walks towards him with another blue Japanese lily in hand.

With the gravity of the previous tragedy that brought about Inami's parents' demise, Tsurugi's concerns lean more to her dear friend, pitying him greatly for he has to live without the love and care of his own parents at such a young age. She stands before him, trying her best to hold back the tears from forming in her pearly ember eyes while he looks straight up to her.

"Tsurugi…"

"I'm sorry, Inami. I didn't mean to be late…"

"It's okay. You're here now, right?"

Seeing him growing a small emphatic smile with his reply warmed her heart, smiling back as she kneels next to him. Before she could put her flower, she notices that he has placed a similar flower on the gravestone.

"Funny… We brought the same flower."

Inami snickers at her comment.

"That's great, now Papa will have _two_ stalks of blue lilies to gift to Mama. She loves blue flowers after all…"

Like his late mother, Inami also has a soft spot for the color which he believes to be a trait he got from her. Tsurugi places her flower on the gravestone next to his and the two close their eyes, putting their hands together and praying silently for a moment.

"Done!"

Inami gets back on his feet as though he's re-energized, clear of any signs of grief or mourning, much to Tsurugi's surprise as she stands up as well.

"What did you tell them?"

"Well… I told Papa to gift our flowers to Mama and take care of them, maybe put it inside a small vase or something. I also told them that you and your parents have been treating me well."

His cheerful and sincere tone was more than enough to make her smile even more seeing how thoughtful he is towards his late parents as well as giving credit where its due. The Katami family has brought him under their care ever since he lost his parents, under persistent requests from Tsurugi herself who cares for him and sees him as a brother figure even though they're of the same age.

"What about you, Tsurugi?"

"Oh, I told them you have been a good boy and you've been helping out with house chores every day… And I also told them I want to keep on taking care of you forever!"

"Is that so?"

Tsurugi nods eagerly while Inami outright approves of her request and takes her hand.

"Let's keep it that way then, okay? Come on, let's head home!"

* * *

**========== Present day, Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

***BDBOOM***

"Tch…!"

Doing combat against a towering unmanned pitch-black Golem that has just blasted a huge crater on the grassy plains at the southern tip of the city where they're currently fighting at, Inami Arisawa, who's donned the powered full-body armor _Minerva_, leaps over a boulder seeking cover while bits of charred earth and grass rain all around him. Through the mini-map displayed internally on the Minerva's helmet's hologram screen, he watches in horror as another blip similar to that of the Golem that he's currently under attack from escapes his radar range towards Tokyo Bay where the prestigious Infinite Stratos Academy is located.

"So much for diversion, the other giant is resuming on its course towards the Academy!"

Out of desperation to give chase, Inami pops around the boulder pointing one of his arm particle guns at the Golem.

_***brriiiriiriiriiriirii-rii-rii-rii-rii***_

The hulking menace blocks the hyper-compact blue particle shots with its plated forearms but the shots merely inflicts shallow red-hot blast marks as they chew away on its armor. The minuscule damages barely flinches the Golem as it curls its hand into a fist and points all four particle cannons around its wrist at the boulder Inami's hiding behind. He boosts out of cover using the Minerva's particle pulse-jets on the back of its shoulders and legs, somersaulting to the side as the Golem's cannons are charged.

***BZUUSH***

Merciless to anything standing in its path, the Golem's particle beams instantly incinerates the boulder upon impact leaving Inami with barely any options for cover. At this point, he grows anxious as he notices that the other blip has already escaped the Minerva's radar range while the Golem turns to him.

'_Damn it… At this rate, the Academy will—'_

Inami jumps away from another incoming particle beam from the Golem as it tries to catch him off-guard. Knowing that the unmanned unit standing before him is holding him back, he's left with no other choice but to take it on hoping that he would still have time to catch up with the other. He runs towards the Golem, firing his forearm particle gun blindly at it while keeping an eye on its charging particle cannons.

The Golem fires the cannons but Inami boosts himself up, dodging the particle beam by inches which graze the Minerva's geodesic dome spherical particle barrier. He lands on the Golem's massive forearm and uses it as a platform to launch himself onto its shoulders where he gets a clear line on the Golem's head. With a hand clutching its bulky shoulder, he fires particle shots into its face and damages most of its visor which has multiple red eyes on it.

The drone retaliates, throwing its other arm to its shoulder and grabbing Inami via his lower body. The Golem's big hand holds him firm and pulls him off its shoulder, throwing him away like a toy. He slams the ground hard but the Minerva armor absorbs the shock that he remained relatively unharmed. He realizes that unlike an IS, the Golem does not have a barrier to protect it from close-quarter attacks; the primary purpose of the Minerva given its armaments consisting of twin particle guns on the forearms and twin beam sabers stored on the sides of its waist armor.

"Over here!"

With one remaining eye, the Golem furiously fire all particle cannons on both arm at Inami who's rudely shocked by the sudden fit of rage the monstrosity has gone into as he runs around it trying to avoid the barrage of thick pink particle beams riddling a trail on the ground where he runs on. He activates a brief boost of speed from the Minerva armor's shoulder pulse-jets, allowing him to quickly outrun the lumbering Golem's turning speed and circle towards its back.

Inami sprints for the Golem's blind spot and jumps just as it back-hand swings its hulking left arm, once again using it as a platform to jump to the top of the Golem where he pulls out the saber hilt on the left waist rack. The saber deploys a blue, thick compact stream of charged particles encased in a blade-shaped energy field which he then rams through the top of the Golem's head just as it was about to look up.

After a brief flinch, the Golem shuts down and its remaining eye loses its red glow while its heavy arms fall to the sides with a muffled thud as they hit the grassy ground. Its clenched fists loosen and the Golem slowly begins to topple backwards from the weight of its shoulders. Inami pulls out the beam saber and jumps off while the Golem's body hits the ground hard, causing a short quake within a small diameter of the ground around it.

"It's down! I'm going to pursue the other giant now, Jinrai-san!"

"_-Negative! It's well inside Academy airspace now! Even with the Longboard, there's no way you can catch up to it at this point…-_"

"…What?"

Another window of an expanded map view appears on the hologram visor screen which shows the other blip inside the IS Academy's territory and is directly on top of one of their battle arenas. He could only feel a looming disappointment as he realizes his utter failure.

"You can't be serious…"

"_-Gerald wants you back stat. The Longboard should be approaching soon, hop on it and return to base.-_"

Far in the distance, a flying platform enters the immediate airspace and descends as it approaches Inami who could only clench his fists in anger. The mini-map on his hologram visor screen shows a flashing green blip marked with the word "Longboard" heading towards his position. He looks at the dead Golem, which resembled an IS in almost all aspects except for the autonomous systems that piloted it. An idea pops into his mind seeing as the downed drone is relatively intact.

"Understood, Jinrai-san."

The Longboard, a delta-winged flight platform swoops overhead and circles around before slowing down to a hover above the Golem's body. As Inami walks to the giant's side, the Longboard releases cargo cables from its underside and he grabs one while kneeling next to the Golem.

* * *

**========== Mount Nokogiri, Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Camouflaged amongst the forested landscape on the hillside is a small yet elaborate infrastructure that serves as the base of operations for the renegade group Praxidike. Most of the base is within Mount Nokogiri, with only a few structures jutting out and facing towards Tokyo Bay from a high elevation that both Tokyo Bay and the Infinite Stratos Academy are completely in plain sight.

Standing at the elevated lookout platform is Gerald Bastion, leading member of Praxidike, sighing as he watches a column of smoke spewing out from the very distant IS Academy. Despite the apparent failure to deter the Golems from reaching the Academy, he remains relatively calm as though failure itself was one of the expectations of the attempt given that it is the Minerva's first live sortie. The door behind him sweeps open and he turns around to see Jinrai Takafumi, the engineer responsible for developing weapons and the Minerva, entering along with Inami, Minerva's user.

"Arisawa…"

Inami sinks his head with sheer disappointment as he could only imagine the terrible magnitude of rage that might be building up inside Gerald after committing such a huge blunder for his first mission. He hears Gerald stepping towards them but he could not bear to look up and face him. The sounds of his steps draw closer and stop directly in front of him.

"It wasn't a failure. Don't put your head down like that."

_Not_ a failure? Inami could not believe what he just heard. Did Gerald not realize that his blunder has allowed a Golem to pass towards the Academy and wreck havoc upon the school, the very cause of the smoke column he's seen spewing out from the Academy? Yet, the Praxidike leader mentioned it was not and Inami slowly raises his head, looking at him with a confused expression.

"Had you not tried to intercept, the Academy would have to deal with _two_ of those monsters."

"But still…"

"And you might've been _killed_ had you tried to take on both giants at once."

The previous fight against the Golem projects into Inami's mind. There's definitely no doubting of Gerald's words given the difficulty that he faced when taking on the monstrosity which was quite mobile for something of its bulk, let alone its assault-class armaments of quadruple particle cannons on both of its forearms.

"He managed to recover the giant that he brought down. It's in the hangar bay and we thought you'd like to take a look at it."

Gerald looks back to Inami with a raised brow. Never did it strike him that he would have the audacity to scavenge something like the Golem. However, he has no reason to complain since a live, sort of, specimen of a unit with its firepower would allow Jinrai to expand his knowledge on weapons technology.

* * *

The trio enters the hangar bay where the dead Golem is secured onto a platform via cables wrapped around its limbs. Small blast marks scarred its left hand and damaged the majority of its face but Gerald's attention is more to the stab wound on top of its head.

"So it's unmanned."

Inami remembers how uncertain he was before committing such an attack as he did not know whether someone was piloting the Golem until he came into physical contact. There were no pulse readings and given the appearance of exhaust vents all over its body, including its chest, it was clear to that the Golem's autonomous before he rammed the saber into its head. Jinrai raises the Golem's head towards the light as Gerald looks at the sophisticated machinery within, noticing that the stab wound goes deeper.

"Such elaborate autonomous hardware… I've never seen anything like this before."

"No matter how you look, it does resemble an IS."

Gerald notices the bulging arms and legs just like those of a typical Infinite Stratos unit. No doubt, Inami's right about the Golem being an IS-type but answering the question alone leads to another such as the identity of the originator and the purpose of sending these Golems to attack the IS Academy, a studying campus that has no relations to any military or belonging to any nation, including Japan where it resides.

"I presume you've checked this thing for any sort of tracking devices before bringing it here, Arisawa?"

"There weren't any form of transmission signals sent out when it went down or even when I was hauling it back here."

"I see… Go and get some rest then, you've done a lot today."

Without another word, Inami nods and briskly leaves the hangar. As Gerald resumes examining the Golem, Jinrai has the Minerva armors mounted inside a construction cage where he begins to download combat data from the previous sortie. Various data ranging from weapons usage to damage sustained by the particle barrier are downloaded almost instantaneously as the engineer browses through the downloaded data including a recorded footage of the battle against the Golem from the helmet's perspective.

"For a first-timer, he did pretty well."

"Such a big catch. What are you going to make of this, Jinrai?"

"Depends on what this thing is made of. Weapon systems, core processor, armor composite… Lots of things! Also according to Inami, this thing manages to remain mobile throughout the battle… and from the footage, he wasn't exaggerating."

The Golem looks bland with its monotonous color scheme and the series of propulsion nozzles all over its body and limbs. Such a crude design yet it holds a great deal of technological knowledge to have spark much curiosity for people like Jinrai. Gerald remains in the hangar as Jinrai brings over a couple of tooling containers and takes out a laser cutter.

"Let's get to work then."

"Okay."

* * *

**========== Hachijo Island, Izu Islands Cluster ==========**

Beneath the seemingly humble foliage of trees, grass and occasional flowers is an infrastructure that houses _another_ mysterious renegade organization's base of operations. Majority of the underground base is situated below _Mount Mihara_, the taller of the two mountains on the island. The base also connects to the off-land Mount Taihei via underground passage ways. Unlike Praxidike, the organization that utilizes this base has slightly bigger workforce which commute from one part of the base to another via an internal monorail network.

As with Praxidike's base of operations, this organization's also has a lookout platform albeit more discreet with only a small portion of the platform sticking out from the mountain side. Inside the platform is a man who appears to be in his mid-thirties with short grey hair and his frowned, vengeful brown eyes staring out into the distance towards the direction of mainland Japan as someone enters the platform with a tablet computer in hand.

"Sir, the Jabber units are ready. They'll be up in the air—"

"No. Call off the attack for now."

"…Sir?"

The man, who appears to be the leading head of the renegade group, turns to the other personnel standing at the door leading to the lookout platform.

"Call off the launch. That is an _order_."

"Understood, sir."

There's much chagrin in the personnel's tone despite his politeness. To have prepared for what appears to be a coordinated attack only to have it cancelled on a whim induces much disappointment yet he knows it is not the time. As the personnel leaves, the man turns back to the outside view, cringing to what appears to have been a forced call. Like the other, he was also looking forward to launching the ambiguous Jabber units if not for an unprecedented event which, in a way, foiled their plans.

'_That's right… The damned Academy would definitely be on high alert after that sudden attack. We can't send the Jabbers in under those circumstances!'_

Forced yet cautious call of cancelling a planned attack on the IS Academy due to the Golem's strike, the man walks towards a computer terminal with a widescreen on the wall that's displaying a symbolic icon; the Sun held up by a pair of hands. Pressing a couple of keys on the console, he contacts another section of the base as an idea popped into his mind.

"_-Sir?-_"

"Change of plans. Switch package waypoint set to _Delta Academy_."

"_-Today, sir…?-_"

"I'll give the call when it's time to launch the attack."

"_-Yes sir!-_"

The call ends with a high-pitched fade-out beep and the man looks back outside, slowly growing a grin on his face.

* * *

In what appears to be a very long underground hangar is filled with hordes of humanoid robot drones lined up next to each other, the Jabber drones; built with the standard armament of a tri-barreled gun pod and a beam blade emitter built into their right and left forelimbs respectively. Unlike the Golem, the Jabber sports various shades of grey across their body and limbs along with green, translucent covers on both of their optical camera eyes.

"_-Confirmed Jabber attack package Strike Lance One. Waypoint Set, Delta Academy. Launch sequence on hold.-_"

From the front-most row, three Jabbers walk out of the arrangement and head for the holding stage as other Jabbers step forward to cover the blank spots left behind.

"_-Strike Lance One, hold two for Strike Mount attachment.-_"

Of the three Jabbers, two of them stands still while the leading unit makes its way to the holding stage; an elevated platform with its borders marked with yellow lines. The other two Jabbers remain rooted as a couple of suspended rail cranes lower a pair of rectangular missile launchers on each of the Jabbers' shoulders. Each launcher is pre-loaded with two big cylindrical missiles, giving the Jabbers, now configured as _Strike Jabbers_, a total of four missiles each.

Another sub-arm attachment on the suspended cranes hold expanded thruster packs which the sub-arms mount onto the Strike Jabbers' backs while a floor panel in front of each drone opens with twin sub-arms pushing up a pair of armor plates and attaches them onto each of the Jabbers' legs.

"_-Strike Mount attachment complete, proceed to holding stage for standby.-_"

The Strike Jabbers continue towards the elevated platform while causing loud metallic thuds as their heavy armored legs stomp the hangar floor.

"_-Strike Lance One is on standby. Launch sequence will commence when command is confirmed.-_"

* * *

**========== Oamishirasato, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Dusk begins as the sky gets consumed in a reddish-gold hue of the radiant sun setting into the horizon, illuminating the land with its curtain of golden light especially the Katami Dojo that's situated on top of a hill in Yoanji. The ambience around the family-run dojo is soft and peaceful. Its environment is void of any noticeable dirt or stains that would upset the dojo's reputation. Within the main training hall of the dojo, a young lady brandishes a sword with the scabbard on.

Her long chestnut brown hair flourishes at every swing of the weapon and her skin barely breaking even a drop of sweat as her strength seem undiminished by the weight of the iron scabbard, furnished with shallow engravings of waves across the scabbard's surface.

From stabbing motions to elegant swings and blocking stances, she executes various movements while occupying only a portion of the training hall. Sounds of distant steps on the wooden floor alerts comes to her attention and she ceases her training, lowering the weapon as she turns to the training hall's main sliding door where she sees the shadow of another person. The door opens and behind it is a middle-aged man with short black hair donning a plain white kimono.

"Father…?"

"Tsurugi, it's going to be dinner time soon. Aren't you going to shower yet?"

"In a minute, father."

The young lady, Tsurugi Katami, holds the weapon by the scabbard which caught the attention of her father, Kiyoshi Katami, who enters the hall and walks towards his daughter.

"Training with the _Shinken_ again?"

"I'm getting used to handling the weight. But I still wonder… Why would our ancestors make a sword so heavy?"

Tsurugi hands the weapon, the _Katami Shinken_, to her father as he sweeps his hand across the scabbard's surface, feeling every detail of the engravings as it reminds him of the time when he first received it from his parents. Passed down through generations of the Katami family, the Katami Shinken has stood against the challenge of time but only few knows of the secret underneath the scabbard which, for unknown reasons, cannot be opened easily as though it has been sealed onto the weapon's hilt.

"It's an odd weapon even for ceremonial traditions… which is what this weapon is made for. It is said by our ancestors and _proven_ throughout generations of the Katami family that only those whose heart is pure for safeguarding the family's integrity will be able to release the blade within. As such…"

With one hand on the grip and other on the scabbard, Kiyoshi gently splits the grip from the scabbard and unsheathes the weapon within; a broad, double-edged sword reflecting light off its vibrant, mirror-like silver surface. Tsurugi stares in awe at the majestic appearance of the Katami Shinken's blade, completely clean with minor, extremely light scratches that would explain the durability of the blade and the heart of the individual that wields it.

"Soon, it will be the next successor's turn to unleash it…"

"Successor? But I'm…"

Kiyoshi stores the blade firmly into the scabbard and turns to his puzzled daughter.

"Which makes you even more special to the family, Tsurugi. Unlike the previous generations, this is the first time we have a female as the _eldest and only child_ in the family."

Placing a hand on her shoulder with a warm, sincere smile, Kiyoshi is doubtless to Tsurugi's potential as the succeeding member of the Katami family. His mind focused solely on nurturing her without even a single speck of regret, knowing well that she has always been determined, striving to uphold the family name.

* * *

**========== Mount Nokogiri, Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Within the depths of the Praxidike base of operations, both Jinrai and Gerald are in the research room where parts and pieces of the now-dismantled Golem drone are arranged atop a long, wide light-table that illuminates the dim room. While the Golem's chest and head are still intact, its armored limbs are separated from the body to be examined by Jinrai, especially the massive arms which also have four in-built particle cannons around the wrist.

"Amazing… The armor plating itself isn't thick but the underlying fibers are weaved so compact that it holds the armor together against bludgeoning attacks. The fibers don't contain as much mass as the plating which allowed this unit to remain very mobile while also benefitting from great armor defense."

While being impressed by Jinrai's explanation, Gerald can't help but look at the shallow blast marks on the forelimbs that were previously caused by Minerva's particle gun shots.

"What do you make of this?"

"They're not impervious to particle fire since they lack _any_ forms of defensive coating… and while their armor can withstand tremendous physical _blunt_ damage, this kind of fiber-weaved concept doesn't stand well against _pin-point_ attacks from what I've seen for other armors that used similar concepts."

To state his point, Jinrai takes out a slender, cylindrical punch and a straight peen hammer from the toolbox on the light-table. He holds the punch's pointed end on armored portion of the Golem's legs and slams the hammer onto the punch, causing a brief, sharp noise as well as imprinting a deep dot mark on the armor where the pointed edge was along with short cracks around it. The sudden demonstration also leaves Gerald brow-raised on his durability test methods.

"And to think, Arisawa stabbed it in the head with a particle beam saber… It's like adding insult to injury."

"Indeed it does. Then again, we know what these monsters are weak against. About their weaponry though…"

The two walk around the table towards one of the Golem's arms. Four particle cannon muzzles around the gold-colored wrist plating immediately behind the massive hand itself.

"I can understand why they would make the arms so huge in order to accommodate these sub-howitzer-sized muzzles but what I don't understand is why they need **FOUR** of them pointing in the _same_ direction!"

"Is it overkill?"

"_Beyond_ overkill… If all four are fired at once like what happened when Inami went up against it. I'll admit, it is an _extremely decisive_ choice of weaponry and I will be using data from it to develop better equipment."

Gerald grows a smirk at Jinrai's apparent confession. Shouldering the responsibility of developing the Minerva, Jinrai has been applying past knowledge as a former experimental weapons engineer to provide the powered armor with the best equipment around. The Golem isn't an exception for that matter since it's an autonomous unit that boasts qualities of an Infinite Stratos, it gives Jinrai more reasons to look into its equipment and apply them for future improvements for the Minerva.

"This… must be its core."

Jinrai turns to Gerald who's holding what appears to be the Golem's core. Roughly the size of a golf ball, the vibrant, spherical object emits a glowing aura as though it's still imbued with plenty of power yet not radiating any sort of thermal properties seeing how Gerald has it firmly in his hand without even flinching. Jinrai remembers recovering the object from within the Golem's chest through the saber wound on its head.

"It's the central component inside its chest, yeah. Given its size, I'll bet that it contains a motherlode of data. I'm surprised you caught that detail with just a glimpse."

"_Heh_… But remember, this thing is autonomous… Odds are it may go rouge when you try to tamper with it. If you're going to try to crack into its data, make sure you use an isolated terminal."

"Of course. But… how do you know that?"

Gerald briefly eyes Jinrai upon hearing his question as mental images of his past flashes into his mind.

"Heard of the _Hyperion Corporation_?"

The name wasn't unfamiliar to Jinrai. He tries to remember when he has heard or seen anything related to that name and eventually recalls reading news of a well-known organization of the same name when it was closed down permanently after declaring themselves bankrupt almost a year after the White Knight incident.

"I know of them. Back in my days as an experimental weapons engineer, the military have always been eyeing that company for opportunities to snag a deal to allow development of autonomous weapons… though I was against that idea. What about it?"

"Former employee."

Gerald's flat-out honest answer snatches Jinrai's attention as he stares at him, dumbfounded. Never did he think it would occur to him that someone from a former well-established company of AI development would turn out to be a leader of a renegade counter-terrorist organization that pledges no allegiance to any nation. The ensuing silence between them fills the entire room, lightly disturbed by soft noises from the light table and a computer terminal next to it. There's nothing but absolute seriousness in his tone.

"I see… Rather unfortunate for it to have tanked like that."

"Yeah…"

Jinrai heads over to the computer terminal, preparing for a full scan of the Golem's parts while Gerald examines the core unit which seemed all too familiar to him.

'_There's no mistake… It looks totally identical to hers. This is the same core unit for the Infinite Stratos.'_

* * *

_*duf**duf**duf*_

Within the confines of his personal dormitory, Inami, dressed only in a pair of shorts, executes swift punches against a suspended cylindrical training bag. With half-finger gloves that have hard, padded knuckles, he repeatedly jabs the charcoal-grey canvas surface of the bean-filled training bag. Every punch is felt through the padded knuckles and onto his fists as they leave deep marks on the bag's side.

From direct horizontal jabs to low, uppercut blows, Inami lands various forms of punching maneuvers on the training bag. His lower legs are also covered with hard padding, especially on his shins where he begins to perform kicks on the training bag as well. In conjunction with his punches, he switches between his hands and his legs to strike various parts of the training bag simultaneously. He feels pressure at every blow but he barely flinches, sweating across his body as he resumes striking the bag.

Throughout his five years, now six, in Praxidike, Inami has undergone training from Gerald in various forms self-defense techniques in addition to his saber combat practice in the Minerva armor. On the grounds that he may need to resort to unconventional hand-to-hand combat without the Minerva, he has adopted different martial art combat techniques to allow him to fight even outside the powered armor.

After dealing continuous strikes on the bag, Inami ceases his training and takes a towel that was hanging around the chains above the training bag, wiping off his sweat until a sound of the automatic door sliding open catches his attention. He turns and sees Gerald at the doorstep with his hands inside his pocket.

"Bastion-san?"

"I could hear those punches from outside your room."

"Sorry… I thought no one else was around. I'm done now though…"

"Well, don't let that stop you, Arisawa."

Gerald steps into the room and looks around while Inami wonders what he meant by his words.

"You did good today. But remember, autonomous drones do not suffer mental fatigue or stress… Fighting them in hand-to-hand combat will be a lot different compared to against another human."

"I understand…"

Gerald nods and steps aside as Inami exits the room, heading for the showers. The automatic door slides shut as he leaves while Gerald glances around the room; the training bag, a bed neatly done, a small table next to bed that has a small radio set and a framed picture next to it. Curious of the frame, he walks towards the table and picks up the picture frame where he sees the photo of young Inami alongside Tsurugi, someone Gerald is completely unfamiliar about.

'_I see… So he has been missing someone the entire time.'_

Looking around the room again, Gerald sees a thin stack of blank papers and a pencil. He takes them and scribbles some words on the paper before folding it up and placing it under the picture frame on the small table, leaving the room shortly after.

* * *

**=== [End of Chapter 1] ===**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Jabbers

**Infinite Stratos: Athena**

**Chapter 2: The Jabbers**

* * *

**========== Beyond Earth's atmosphere, Outer Space ==========**

A lone satellite orbits around the planet as its multiple powerful optical cameras zoom in upon the Infinite Stratos Academy and the surrounding prefectures, including Tokyo. Under remote controlled from a certain individual whose name is flashed on the satellite's interface as _"RYAN, CLAUSE"_. Colored in shades of iron grey, the satellite also has an insignia of the Sun help up by a pair of hands imprinted on the side of its hull along with the word _"Hyperion Co."_ below it.

The words reflect vibrant gold shine from the Sun as the surface turns towards the star, looming above the Academy in an apparent act of obsessive observation. The satellite has been set to remain in stationary orbit over Japan to eye every single movement on the mainland especially the Infinite Stratos Academy that is marked on the satellite's interface with a blood-red rotating target reticule.

The hull of the satellite is littered with scratch marks caused by repeated collisions of wrecked pieces from the other satellites that were destroyed by the White Knight IS during its debut. The Hyperion satellite itself wasn't particularly safe from the White Knight during then, as indicated with a grazed particle beam mark across part of its hull which suggests a near-miss.

Nevertheless, such degree of damage does not hinder or even disturb the satellite's operations. It resumes its orbit and maintains an overview on the IS Academy while more bits and scraps of other destroyed satellites bounce off its massive hull.

* * *

**========== Oamishirasato, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Within the living quarters of the Katami Dojo, inside the dimly-lit confinement of Tsurugi's bedroom, she sits on the side of her bed with her hair down covering half of her face as she holds a polished wooden picture frame.

"It's been years… Where are you now…?"

Her soft, tearful whisper disturbs the silence inside the room and she gently taps her index finger on the picture that's obscured by the darkness of the room. Yearning emotions swell in her heart as she recalls past memories of her spending her time with Inami during their childhood days.

"I want to see you again… I know you are still alive, somewhere."

Sudden light knocks on the door startles her.

"_Tsurugi, it's already morning. You need to submit your application form today, right?_"

Tsurugi turns to a thin stack of papers on the small table next to her bed. They are application forms for an educational institution but the name of the school is covered by a dome-shaped paperweight containing a small-scaled orbital launch complex, complete with a mini space-shuttle standing nose-up on a launch pad and a small plaque engraved with the word _"TANEGASHIMA"_.

"Yes, mother! I'll be out in a minute!"

"_Well don't rush it, dear. Your father will be driving you there._"

Tsurugi beams a smile and jumps off the bed, placing the wooden picture frame on the small bedside table and pulling the curtains open. In an instant, the daylight illuminates the dull and dim bedroom into a bright, colorful one with most of the fabrics in her room colored in various shades of blue. The light also bathes the picture frame which then reveals to be holding a photo of Inami piggybacking her with cheerful, heartwarming smiles on their faces.

Still dressed in striped pajamas, Tsurugi takes a towel from her closet and turns to look at the photo as she opens the door, growing a small smile as she leaves the room to head for the showers.

* * *

**========== Mount Nokogiri, Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

"She's Tsurugi."

Gerald turns to Inami as he confesses the name of the person in the picture he kept in his room. Held in Inami's hand is a piece of paper that he found under the photo frame, the paper which Gerald has apparently scribbled with the short message _"Your girlfriend? See me at the observation platform tomorrow."_

Inami blushes lightly upon reading what was written, fully intended to be a humor jab from the Praxidike leader seeing how he's been active in his daily in-room physical trainings. He clearly remembers the last time he saw Tsurugi despite it being almost six years ago.

"Tsurugi Katami… That is her name."

"Katami…?"

While Gerald doesn't show it, the name sounded familiar to him. Inami nods at his prompt while still harboring embarrassment from having his personal picture seen by Gerald, the _last_ person he would want seeing the photo. He holds no doubt that Gerald would have figured out how valuable she is to him and even it being on a personal level, she's more of a sibling figure to him than a girlfriend as Gerald's humor note would imply.

"Don't get it wrong though… She's not my girlfriend, she's… closer than that."

"I see."

Gerald looks back to the view outside. He remembers how he initially thought Inami would be all alone seeing as he's an orphan when he was brought into Praxidike without leaving much notice to the Katami family that he left behind. During then, the idea that Inami would actually be adopted into another family did not cross his mind as bringing Inami in was a given instruction by another individual whose name promptly projects into his mind.

'_Athena… This can't be a coincidence, right…?'_

Gerald shakes off the thoughts. All he knows is that the ambiguous Athena has explicitly chose Inami as the vanguard and the primary user for the Minerva powered armor. Yet, Tsurugi's name remains oddly familiar but Gerald could not recall why it is so. Not wanting to show that he's troubled, he sweeps the thoughts aside trusting that he will find out soon enough given Inami's connection with her.

"Bastion-san?"

"…Thanks for sharing. You may leave now, Arisawa."

For someone who has established himself as the leader of a renegade organization, Inami is confused at his sudden change of mood. Earlier, he recalls how nervous he was when he was about to step into the observation platform thinking that the Praxidike head would be giving him an earful for keeping such picture, not that he would have any discernible reasons to do so to begin with. Yet again, he was greeted with the opposite; seeing a usually strict person suddenly turning soft and curious of photo which he thought would have passed as a trivial matter.

* * *

**========== Infinite Stratos Academy ==========**

It is only a day after the surprise attack from the monstrous Golem yet the illustrious institution manages to uphold its image; the battle arena that was infiltrated by the drone is almost restored. Only a mere section of its arena walls missing as a replacement piece is inserted into place with the help of a few Academy personnel using the training Infinite Stratos unit, _Uchigane_; designed as a grey-colored, IS-scaled samurai armor along with twin shoulder armor plating suspended over the pilot's shoulders.

Aside from the restoration works, everything else is intact with barely any signs of damages to suggest that a violent battle just took place and most of the Academy is completely empty as the students are out for an off-campus vacation.

* * *

Meanwhile within the depths of the Academy's basement is a secretive base of operations belonging to the Academy itself and access to it is only given to a few the school's top-ranked instructors. The infrastructure of the base takes form of a geodesic dome with tessellating hexagons similar to the shapes of the energy barrier projected by an IS unit as a defensive feature. Suspended holographic screens are neatly arranged around the room along with the main massive hologram screen towards the opposite end of the room.

The main screen shows a wireframe overview of the IS Academy and the neighboring Chiba Prefecture, showing two identical red blips with one located over the Academy while the other remained stationary at the southern tip of Ichihara, accompanied with another white-colored blip that is marked with an _"Unknown"_ indicator. It is then apparent that the screen is showing radar detection records from the previous day when the Golem attacked.

The two instructors in the room, _Maya Yamada_ and _Chifuyu Orimura_, both being Homeroom Teachers of Class One with the former being an assistant, are surprised by the revelation that another similar Golem unit was present on the day of the attack and paying very little attention to the unknown blip.

"I knew it… there were _two_ of them."

"You knew about this, Maya?"

Maya isn't certain as to what she should reply. Back when the Golem attacked the arena grounds, it was detected on the Academy's early-warning radar system but the second unit did not show up until she was called out to assist with the threat, even that was just a brief beep and the other blip merely flashed for a fraction of a second which Maya passed as a probable glitch caused from the ongoing havoc on the surface.

"Not quite… Before we left to assist the students, the second blip only popped for like a split second. It didn't show up again after that so I thought it was just a glitch. Guess I was wrong…"

"Don't worry about it. Then again, we should probably send some of the security troopers to check out the area. Get _Aegis One_ and _Two_ in the air and have them scout the last known location of the second signal."

"On it, Sensei."

Chifuyu's attention shifts to the white unknown blip that's within the vicinity. Though her main concerns lie in the hostile Golem drones, seeing another smaller unit moving around the second Golem blip as though they were engaging in battle does not sit well with her too.

"And while they're at it, Maya, get them to look around for any signs that would give us an idea what that unknown unit might be."

* * *

**========== Mount Nokogiri, Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

The day once again enters the dusk of evening with the Sun descending towards the horizon. Within Praxidike base's hangar, Jinrai is examining some machinery and what appears to be a long broad blade arranged on a long metal table while behind him are two construction cages; one is holding the Minerva and is plugged to a portable computer terminal while the other is completely empty without any forms of external connection. Standing next to the empty cage is a container that is holding the dismantled armor parts from the previous Golem.

Immediately next to the construction cage appears to be a pile of aerodynamic parts, colored in shades of black with blue highlights. The parts had already been precisely arranged such that they resemble a flight unit. However unlike the long, slender Longboard, this flight unit appears to be shorter in fuselage length but overall relatively wider than it, complete with twin platforms on top of the main body and four gun muzzles lined in pairs on each side of the main body's front.

The broad blade on the table though appears to be completely different and in no way related to the secondary flight unit in the works. Rather, this equipment appears to be a long sword with a massive, translucent gold-tinted, broad blade that has only one sharp edge. The opposite is lined with six exhaust muzzles and each muzzle holds a scaled-down version of the Minerva's particle pulse-jet. One of the muzzles is open with Jinrai tinkering with the pulse-jet that was supposed to be placed in said muzzle.

The entrance door to the hangar opens and Gerald walks in. Despite countless of times he has seen Jinrai awake so late to work on equipments for the Minerva, he's still surprised before noticing the broad blade on the table. Jinrai on the other hand, raises his head at Gerald with a smirk to greet him as he approaches the table.

"What are those?"

"Special equipment for the Minerva, they are part of my list of project backlogs that I have for the unit. What you're seeing here on this table is the blade component for the Type-Two Buster Sword."

Gerald realizes a skip in the numbering.

"Two? What about the _'One'_?"

Jinrai points a thumb over his shoulder to the back, directing Gerald's attention to the arranged pieces of a flight platform unit where he notices its differences compared to the Longboard flight platform that they're currently using to allow sustained flight for the Minerva. He also notices gun muzzle-like protrusions lined along front side of the unit's main body.

"Type-One CSFP, which is short for _Combat Support Flight Platform_. The CSFP beats out the Longboard in all aspects along with the addition of particle guns, which are a slightly more powerful than the Minerva's forearm particle guns. It's not yet ready though… I haven't installed its secondary function yet."

"What's the Type-Two's story?"

"The Minerva's beam sabers are much too powerful for their kind and they chew up a lot of power when used extensively. The Type-Two is the _don't-use-too-much-power_ alternative to the beam sabers."

Gerald nods off at the layman terms with a slight smirk. While it's a mere humor term, Jinrai explicitly states the Buster Sword's positive attributes despite deliberately exaggerating about his equipment at times. He points his thumb to the pulse-jet muzzles lined along the back of the blade while raising it for Gerald to have a better look.

"Each of these muzzles contains a smaller version of the Minerva's particle pulse-jets but given the relative size of the Type-Two, having _six_ of these pulse-jets will deliver a near-instantaneous strike upon anything it swings upon. The blade itself is made out of titanium alloy laced with fibers of tungsten carbide, easily awarding this weapon with a _nine_ on the Mohs scale."

"Anti-beam features…?"

"Layers of refractive coating on the broad sides of the blade saturated enough that they feel just as solid as the blade itself. And for some reason… such saturation gave the Type-Two this semi-transparent gold coating appearance that you're seeing now."

The Type Two's translucent gold gives the weapon a majestic appearance as though it belonged to royalty yet it also emits an aura of _stone-cold_ sensation across the surface of the blade. As Gerald brushes his hand across the blade's side, he feels a tremendous chill crawling in his skin up his forelimb; the cold touch of an _extremely_ sharp and potentially _lethal_ buster blade that makes his fingers feel as though they're affected by frostbite. He rubs his fingers against his thumb and leans against the table as his mind shifts from the weapons to another different matter.

* * *

"Why did you quit?"

Nothing could've prepared Jinrai for such a random question from Gerald that he abruptly stopped examining the fist-sized pulse-jet to stare at him.

"…Pardon?"

"You were supposed to be part of the IS development team for _that_ unit, weren't you?"

Jinrai scoffs at "that". Nothing else in his chalky past would have been significant enough to be referred simply as _that_ aside from the most prominent Infinite Stratos unit to be fielded by Japan. Yet, it was not in his taste to be part of a special development team which ironically got disbanded after a critical error severely tarnished the prototype IS and the team discarded it in silence, only to have it mysteriously re-appear with the world's first and only male IS pilot as its custodian and pilot.

"_Byakushiki_… I'll admit, it sounds much better than what the development team would've named it… which is one of the reasons I pulled out."

"I have a feeling that we're almost alike, Jinrai."

"Well… You got pulled out because Hyperion _tanked_, not for _personal_ reasons. I guess that's where _"almost"_ comes in."

Such a minor difference yet Gerald manage to get a short chuckle out of it. He remembers how bad of a shape the crumbling Hyperion Corporation was prior to his resignation as well having another secondary issue that brought about his premature resignation from the organization. Something smaller, yet more significant than any other reasons he had at that point.

'_More likely than you think, Jinrai…'_

* * *

**========== Hachijo Island, Izu Islands Cluster ==========**

The head of the mysterious renegade organization attentively watches from the observation platform as darkness engulfs the sky, leaving nothing but distant specks of blinking lights of a plane's wingtips moving across the sky. Even the distant town of Hachijo isn't as lively as the street lights are dim. However, the particular time of the day could not have been more convenient for the head who grins in delight before contacting another part of the base through a console on the platform.

"_-Sir?-_"

"What is Strike Lance One's status?"

"_-Mounted and on standby, sir.-_"

"Good, send the package out."

"_-Yes sir!-_"

The personnel on the comms replied with such ecstatic tone that it made the leader's smile grew even wider as they're now able to unleash their planned operation after a long wait. As he turns back to the view outside, the window fizzles and reveals itself as a hologram screen that was disguised as a mere glass panel. Through the transparent screen, a purple rectangular reticule projects itself upon Mount Taihei on a neighboring island.

* * *

Within the massive underground hangar bay that holds legion of Jabber drones, an elevated platform which holds a trio of Jabbers, two of which configured as _Strike Jabbers_, arises and carries the drones to the electromagnetic catapult deck. The platform seals the opening between the catapult deck and the hangar bay while each of the drone trio steps onto one of the three available launching platforms that are attached to a deck shuttle. The platforms latch onto the Jabbers' feet and the blast doors that concealed the catapult from the surface steadily opens, revealing the hidden underground catapult to the world outside.

The Jabbers hunch forward and hums emit from the shuttles' rail as it builds up electromagnetic charge before releasing the shuttles which pulls the platforms and the Jabbers latched onto them, sending the trio streaking across the catapult deck with an accompanying noise of metal friction between the platforms and the deck. The platform latches purge themselves from the Jabbers feet a split second before the platform hits the end of the deck and the Jabbers belting into the starry night sky.

An interface within each Jabber's head projects the _Delta Academy_ waypoints that were imposed for their sortie; a low-altitude flight path into Tokyo Bay via the Sagami Gulf and the waterway that connects the two areas, the _Uraga Channel_. With the waypoints set, the Jabbers ignite their respective rocket thrusters and fly towards mainland Japan while keeping as low as possible without skimming the sea surface that would cause splash trails.

* * *

Meanwhile back on the observation deck, the hologram screen projects a tracking rectangular reticule on the Jabber trio as they circle around Hachijo Island for a clear path towards the mainland. The renegade organization head on the deck scoffs, his heart solely anticipating any form of news or repercussions that would follow after the Jabbers' sortie towards the IS Academy.

'_Tonight, we'll make our existence known to the world. To all users of the Infinite Stratos, be ready… and be very afraid.'_

* * *

**========== Mount Nokogiri, Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Freshly-showered and dressed after spending another evening on striking techniques training with his ceiling-suspended, cylindrical training bag, Inami lays on his bed with a hand slid between the pillow and the back of his head while another is holding onto the framed photo of him and Tsurugi. For almost six years they have been separated when he was brought into Praxidike, he's been yearning to see his childhood friend once again, wishing deeply that soon he would have the chance to do so.

'_Almost six years already… I missed you so much!'_

Despite the photo being taken during their childhood days, it has not shown any signs of age with the photo still clear as crystal. Young Tsurugi's facial features immortalized in the photo, her smooth face and long, silky, chestnut brown hair, none of which attracts his focus more than her glimmering ember eyes.

'_And I'm not that far away… I hope you're still in Togane.'_

_*tiitiiit*_

"_-Inami, this is Jinrai. If you are there, respond immediately!-_"

Jinrai's voice emits from the small radio set on the bedside table, which apparently doubles as an intercom where Inami then places the photo frame on the table. He takes out a single, in-ear monaural headset from the radio-intercom and wears it over his right ear to respond to Jinrai's call.

"I'm here, Jinrai-san."

"_-We have inbounds for the Academy, meet us at the planning room stat.-_"

* * *

Meanwhile, Gerald and Jinrai are in the dark confines of the planning room; a dark, circular room with screens lined along the walls and a main circular screen set under transparent flooring. The main screen shows the satellite overview of the Chiba Prefecture, Tokyo Bay where the Infinite Stratos Academy resides and the neighboring Sagami Gulf outside the Uraga Channel waterway that connects the two bodies of water.

While overview clearly captures all surface islands including portions of the mainland, the wide body of water that separates the mainland from the Izu Islands Cluster does not have any signs or trails that would indicate movement. Gerald and Jinrai however, know that there are suspicious figures traversing across the sea from a previous viewing and they are appalled by their apparent stealth capabilities.

"Rather ironic if you put in the sense that these unknowns are sneaking across an open area…"

"But they're quite clever, traversing at low altitudes mask their appearances from the radar net… but not from an orbital satellite."

The overview zooms in upon Miyake Island, one of the distant offshore islands within the Izu Islands Cluster and projects circular reticules upon three humanoid objects that are circling around the east side of the island. The overview magnifies on the reticules and reveals the humanoid objects to be the Jabber drones with their back rocket thrusters expelling thrusts of flame jets. "What are those?" would have been an apt question but Jinrai realizes Gerald's expression which blatantly spells out "Your guess is as good as mine."

Neither had any idea of the Jabber drones and they notice almost immediately the drastic difference in appearance between them and the Golem, as well as amongst the formation which the two notice additional bulk and bigger thrusters on two of the drones while the leading unit doesn't appear to have anything mounted.

Before either could speak a word, the door to the planning room opens with Inami entering in a jet-black full bodysuit with armored pads on his chest, parts of his limbs and armor plating sections that covers the back of his hands, knuckles and fingers. Gerald and Jinrai are both surprised by his timely presence as he has previously been known to be reporting late due to difficulty in wearing the bodysuit which covers the top of his neck down to his toes.

"Getting used to the suit, I see."

"Somehow, yeah… It's starting to feel much more comfortable now after the previous sortie."

The three gather around the floor screen which shows a dotted path from the Jabber drones that has just passed Miyake Island through the Uraga Channel and into Tokyo Bay, where the dotted path ends with a targeting reticule projected onto the Infinite Stratos Academy. Inami follows the trail down to the trio of Jabber drones, frowning as he recalls his previous sortie against the Golem.

"Those… They don't look like the one that attacked the Academy."

"That spares us part of the briefing of what you're up against. These things are coming low and fast so we'll have to intercept them early, as such we'll need you to intercept them at _Tateyama_."

The screen projects another dotted path from Mount Nokogiri, where the Praxidike HQ is, down to the city of Tateyama at the southern tip of the Chiba Prefecture. Given its distance from the Uraga Channel, it's the most ideal location that would leave Inami with enough ground to fall back upon.

* * *

Soon after, Inami and Jinrai are in the hangar bay preparing for the sortie. The Minerva's armor is being mounted in place upon Inami's bodysuit via an assembly platform. Made out of titanium alloy laced with an underlying layer of flexible carbide composite and electrostatic fibers, the platform's sub-arms lifts the Minerva's armor parts and mounts them onto various parts of his body which they are then secured into place with an automatic pressure sealing system along the gaps on the armor.

From the armored boots on the platform base up to the chest-plate, everything is secured into place and Inami steps off the platform towards another table where the Minerva's helmet rests. Muffled thuds accompany his heavy steps and he reaches for the helmet; a generally-rounded headgear with a cap-like protrusion around its rim, a thin orange visor with an area of black alloy underneath which ends with an armored, beak-like protrusion under the chin. The helmet also sports twin breathers, one on each side of the mouth.

As Inami puts on the helmet, an eye-like pattern briefly glows on the visor to indicate boot-up and despite the apparent shape of the visor, a full panoramic view of his surroundings are projected on a holographic screen inside the helmet.

The screen also projects the Minerva's particle power capacity in numerical points with the maximum of _seven-hundred_, a mini-map with a regularly pulsating sonar-like wave along with a projected waypoint that directs him to his intended destination and a _three-layer_, color-coded abstract silhouette which represents different features of the Minerva; the innermost layer is a humanoid silhouette that represents the _user's vitals_, encasing it is the second layer which is a silhouette of the Minerva that represents its _armor integrity_ and the third, outermost layer is a spherical barrier around the second layer which represents the unit's _particle barrier strength_. All three layers emit a green glow to indicate that the Minerva's functioning well.

"All systems green, Jinrai-san."

"Great! Get to the catapult, there's not much time."

A huge semi-circle door that separates the hangar bay from the linear catapult deck opens as Inami jogs in. To his surprise, there's a Longboard flight platform sitting at the start of the runway with its nose gear latched to the catapult's shuttle. He hops onto the Longboard, places his feet on both feet platforms which tilts as he rests his knee-guards on the platform and grabs onto a pair of handles that pops up from a concealed panel.

The door behind him closes shut and twin trails of light instantly illuminates the runway as Inami spots Jinrai and Gerald inside a separate, elevated control room.

"_-Linear catapult systems green, activating linear voltage.-_"

Another pair of blast doors at the opposite end of the runway slides apart, revealing the night sky on the topside while a series of nodes flip up along the linear catapult's sides, immediately creating a path of electromagnetic charges while Inami keeps an eye on the rising linear voltage level on the screen. The voltage level steadily climbs and eventually stops at seventy percent.

"_-Timing's on you, Arisawa.-_"

Inami inhales deeply, his sights fixated to the end of the catapult and he gives a nod to the two in the catapult control room.

"Send me out, Gerald-san."

"_-Slinging.-_"

A loud, sharp hum bursts through the hangar as the catapult shuttle instantly races across a rail on the runway, pulling the flight platform along while Inami remains prone and maintains a firm grip on the platform's handles. The catapult shuttle purges the flight platform's nose-gear seconds before it reaches the end of its rail, sending both Inami and the Longboard spearing out from the side of Mount Nokogiri where the linear catapult is hidden within.

The Longboard's sled-gears flip up and its primary verniers at the back expels a dense jet of particle streams, propelling it into the sky while Inami gently lowers one side of the handle grip which steers the flight platform towards the southwest where the city of Tateyama is situated.

* * *

**========== Sagami Gulf ==========**

Passing the eastern side of _Oshima Island_, the nearest island of the Izu Islands Cluster to mainland Japan, the Jabber formation swerves towards the Uraga Channel according to their projected flight path which passes over the west side of _Mount Daisen_ that's situated due east from the city of Tateyama.

Upon approach, the Jabbers ascend to pass over the mountainside until warning tones and a flashing arrow prompts them to turn left in time to see oncoming Inami hanging from the handles of the Longboard that's flying invert. He swings his feet to the front and releases the handle, sending him into a freefall while planting his feet into the leading Jabber's chest. The two arcs towards Mount Daisen and the two Strike Jabbers immediately give chase to their mysterious attacker.

As the two falls towards mainland, the Jabber grabs Inami's legs and with a quick spin of its body, throws him ahead into the mountainside. He fires the particle pulse-jets at the back of his legs, quickly negating the heavy momentum of the drone's throw but also brings him head-on with the Jabber, which already has its right hand curled into a fist and thrusting directly into the left cheek of the Minerva's helmet.

***WHAM***

"_Errf_—!"

The force was immense that Inami spins as he hits the mountainside and imprinting a humanoid-shaped crater on the ground, kicking up a cloud of earth and dirt which completely engulfs him. The helmet's hologram screen fizzles briefly from the punch which would've been more than enough to snap his neck if it wasn't for the special fiber-weaved bodysuit which prevents his neck and limbs from being forced beyond his range of motion.

He manages to push himself out of his self-made crater and sees the lone Jabber standing before him, slightly obscured by the dirt cloud which is penetrated by the bright green glow of its eyes.

The cloud immediately clears and the Jabber is now in plain sight… along with two cylindrical missiles diving from above. Inami jumps away and the two missiles slam into the mountainside, erupting into a towering column of inferno while also causing a booming noise and a strong shockwave which knocks him down. He looks over his shoulder, shocked by the firepower of the missiles and he could only imagine the potential destruction it would inflict upon the IS Academy.

_***bi-bi* *bi-bi-bi***_

Inami rolls aside as bright blue shots from the Jabber hit the ground. He looks up and is surprised to see patches of molten ground where the shots hit.

'_Plasma…?'_

Realizing the apparent nature of the Jabber's weaponry, he gets on his feet and dashes for the lone drone as it points its tri-barreled arm cannon. It fires a stream of plasma shots towards him but the Minerva's geodesic particle barrier automatically deploys upon impact with every plasma shot, immediately diffusing them into thin air with accompanying hisses of the ionized gas being scrambled apart by the semi-visible micro-particle barrier.

The Jabber swings its left arm towards Inami, deploying an energy beam blade from its forelimb's in-built emitter. He blocks its arm with his right hand and throws his left fist into its right cheek, striking the same spot thrice and halts, allowing the drone to merely turn and face him again before he grabs its left arm, holding it and the energy blade away as he thrusts his left knee into its abdomen with a quick boost from the pulse-jet behind his left leg.

While he's subduing the drone solo, the two Strike Jabbers encircle over them with their respective arm cannons drawn. Warned of the imminent threat via beeping tones and flashing directional arrows on the sides of helmet hologram screen, Inami pulls the Jabber's left arm over his head and pushes it towards the opposite side. He spins to his left and launches a roundhouse kick directly into the drone's back, sending it tumbling further as he jumps away to avoid the plasma barrage from the Strike Jabbers.

As he gets back up, he sees the Strike Jabbers already hovering in the distance, obstructing him from the Jabber which has just recovered from his previous kick. Like the Golem from his previous sortie, he realizes that the sensitive acoustic sensors on bodysuit's palms and fingers did not detect any signals throughout the time where he had a firm grip on the Jabber's arm.

'_No pulse… I should've known…'_

The drone trio point their arm cannons at Inami as he faces his left shoulder towards them, holding up his left fist ahead and the other across his upper chest as though he's about to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Realizing the true, autonomous nature of the Jabbers, he immediately sheds off concerns of the possibilities of facing a manned unit. Like the Golem before, his mind is set to go all-out aggressively against his new adversaries.

* * *

**=== [End of Chapter 2] ===**


	3. Chapter 3 - Meeting

**Infinite Stratos: Athena**

**Chapter 3: Meeting**

* * *

**========== Infinite Stratos Academy ==========**

The day reaches its end as it enters late evening and while some of the Academy students have returned from their respective vacations, most of the school's population is still spending the nights out including Chifuyu and Maya, with the former out to check on her younger brother and the latter merely went out for a short breather.

In their absence, another instructor takes their place within the secretive confines of the Academy's underground operations room. Watching the wireframe overview of the area that's projected on the main holographic screen with her sharp, attentive green eyes and her long, braided red hair reaching down to her waistline. Homeroom Teacher _Kaori Murakumo_ stands in the middle of the room with her arms folded across her chest, frowning at the screen which shows four unknown blips moving erratically around Mount Daisen and another lone blip swerving around the island where the Academy's situated.

"_-Aegis Team, spread out and watch for any surprise attacks. Keep an eye on your sensors.-_"

"_-Roger!-_"

Voices from the Academy's six-man security trooper group, generally known to the Academy staff as the _Aegis Team_, fill the comms while six green blips appear on the main screen. Representing each of the security troopers, the blips are labeled from _A1_ to _A6_ and they swiftly encircle the campus' perimeter to form a defensive line. The lone blip that made a complete lap around the Academy's perimeter suddenly turns back towards the other unknown blips over Mount Daisen, passing by the friendly blip _A2_ as it does so.

"Aegis Two, got a visual on that unknown?"

Brief silence follows which made Kaori felt as though she's just asked a wall. Just as she is about to ask again, she hears a slight static of an incoming reply through the comms.

"_-It's a… I don't know, a flying platform of some sort I guess.-_"

"Platform…?"

"_-It's pointed on one end, like the blade of a double-edged sword. It doesn't seem to have any weapons on board that would suggest an immediate threat though…-_"

Such details would've immediately been conspicuous to any Praxidike staff as the Longboard flight platform but neither Kaori nor any of the Aegis troopers has a clue as to what it is. Nevertheless, Kaori remains alert with her focus occasionally switching between the group of unknown blips and other areas on the overview to make sure no sneak attacks will occur like the previous incident with the Golem.

* * *

**========== Mount Daisen, Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Residents in the neighboring town of _Sunosaki_ turn to Mount Daisen after a booming sound of an explosion robbed their attention. Curious about what caused such a noise, the residents notices a column of smoke and small fire rising from behind the hills that's blocking their sight of the source; Inami, in the Minerva powered armor, putting up his fists to the Jabber drones before him.

The drones draw their respective energy blades and spread out while the middle unarmored Jabber dashes straight towards him with its energy blade held up on the left side of its head, preparing to stab him.

'_Guess I'll find out, Bastion-san.'_

Briefly reminiscing Gerald's advice about engaging autonomous units in hand-to-hand combat, Inami relies on the Minerva's sensors to keep track of the other two Strike Jabbers as he focuses on the lone Jabber that's about to lunge its blade towards him.

Inami moves his left arm across his chest and tilts his body towards the right as the Jabber lunges its energy blade. It missed and passes over his left shoulder where his left arm springs outwards, swatting the drone's left arm off his shoulder and thrusting his right fist into the drone's left cheek. The sound of his armor-padded fist colliding with the Jabber's head is so satisfying that he unconsciously grew a wide grin on his face. He has no intention of ending the fight so soon.

Rather, a cold aura shrouds him as he proceeds to curl his left hand into a fist then throws it up the drone's chin.

***WHAM***

He pulls off a full right spin then roundhouse kicks the disoriented Jabber's chest with the bottom of his right feet, along with a timely burst from the leg's pulse-jet sends the Jabber vaulting a short distance away before crashing into the ground. The Minerva's sensor then alerts him to a Strike Jabber behind and is about to swing its energy blade towards his back.

Thinking that the drone would be going for his head, Inami ducks from the strike and sees the directional arrow on the screen that's pointing to his right, indicating the drone's position. A searing energy blade swipes overhead and he follows the arrow; twisting his body right and channeling the momentum to his left fist.

The second he spots the drone's abdomen at the right corner of his eyes, Inami thrusts his left fist into it.

***BAM***

A direct hit to its mechanical gut and the Strike Jabber steps back with its body hunched forward, holding its abdomen while Inami runs towards it, yet unfinished with the lumbering armored drone. It swings its left arm outwards, trying to fend him off. However, the swing was too early and the energy blade missed, allowing him to push its left arm away with his left hand while he spins to his right, launching his right elbow into the drone's face.

As the Strike Jabber stumbles back, the other Strike Jabber dashes from the right side and twists its body right, springing its left arm and its energy blade towards Inami. He turns and catches the drone's left arm with his right hand while his left grabs its other arm, thrusting his forehead into its chin.

***CLANG***

The hologram screen fizzles from the powerful impact but the helmet itself is hardly dented. Inami releases the drone's arms, shaking off the short fuzzy sensation from his head as the sensors alert him to the unarmored Jabber jumping towards his back. He turns and extends his right hand out, firmly gripping the drone's neck before it could even land and pulls it across his body. The helpless drone barely had time to attack before it finds itself pulled past him and his left fist hitting its right cheek which throws off its focus briefly.

Inami uses its brief period of vulnerability to turn to his back where he sees the Strike Jabber with a slightly crooked chin briskly stomping towards him. He turns back, traps the Jabber's head under his right arm and turns his head to look over his shoulder to the Strike Jabber coming around his left side. As the armored drone attempts to attack, he thrusts his left feet up to the side into its torso, kicking it away.

As the Strike Jabber recovers, Inami swings the Jabber he's trapped below his right underarm to his right and tosses it onto the Strike Jabber, knocking it down and trapping it under the Jabber's weight.

"Now…!"

_*k-chk-chk*_

With the Minerva's target-assist system on the hologram screen, Inami aims both arm particle guns at the grounded Strike Jabber's shoulder-mounted missile launchers.

_***brriiiriiriiriiriirii-rii-rii-rii-rii***_

Charged particle bolts riddle the Strike Jabber's shoulder launchers, igniting all four big cylindrical missiles within as they begin to emit orange glows.

_*Fyum~* __***VABOOOM***_

The resulting explosion rips both the Jabber and Strike Jabber into oblivion but the immense force of the following shockwave violently rumbled the ground and instantly knocks Inami off his feet like a ragdoll. The repulsive shockwave throws him over a long distance before slamming his back into a rocky slope which crumbles upon him on impact.

"_D'oof_—!"

Even with the ergonomic pads inside the Minerva's armor, the impact felt as though a speeding truck rammed into his back albeit cushioned. Inami slowly pushes himself out of the slope with small bits of rock crumbling onto his armor, leaving a deep imprint his body made on the slope before suddenly falling onto one knee from momentary dizziness caused by the shockwave.

Inami takes slow, deep breaths and the comms activate as he receives transmission from Praxidike.

"_-Arisawa, the last one is on the move! Stop it!-_"

"What?"

He looks at the mini-map on the hologram screen which, to his horror, shows the remaining Strike Jabber blatantly resuming its course towards the Infinite Stratos Academy while the Longboard is approaching him from behind.

* * *

**========== Infinite Stratos Academy ==========**

Seeing the remaining Strike Jabber coming straight towards the Academy startles the Aegis troopers into high alert.

"We got incoming. Two, on me."

"_-Right!-_"

The two troopers hover alongside each other in their grey Raphael Revive Basic units with their respective Vent rifles drawn, pointing at the lone drone that's coming their way. The Strike Jabber however, has its targeting reticule set onto the Academy grounds. Left with just two missiles after previously exhausting the other two on the Minerva, the Strike Jabber pushes its thrusters to maximum in an apparent kamikaze attempt.

"Attention unknown unit, you are entering restricted airspace! Turn around or you will be fired upon!"

No reply, like any other drone unit would have as it gradually descends, aiming for one of the campus blocks.

"I repeat! You are entering restricted airspace! Turn tail now or we will shoot, that is your _final_ warning!"

"_-Leader, we got another one coming in, three o'clock!-_"

The lead trooper sees the Longboard approaching the Strike Jabber from the side with the Minerva riding on it. Knowing well that the trooper's threats are pointless, he zips towards the Strike Jabber's path with the Longboard tilted slightly to the right as he attempts to pass by the drone's front. The drone paid absolutely no attention to his approach, its eyes has changed its normal green glow to bright red, signaling every intention to crash itself into the Academy.

* * *

Yet, Inami isn't about to let that happen as the previous Golem incident briefly flashes in his mind.

Still a ways from the Academy, he dives from the Longboard and rams into the Strike Jabber. With every momentum channeled to his left shoulder and firing all of Minerva's particle pulse-jets concurrently turn him into a human meteor, instantly knocking the drone out of its flight path and towards the city of Kisarazu. Losing track of its kamikaze attempt, the drone's eyes turn green again and the two crashes into grassy plains, ripping up chunks of earth upon impact.

Back in the Academy's underground operations room, Kaori raised a brow upon seeing the map's interpretation of the ongoing battle outside; two unknown blips collided and is now on an unpopulated area of Kisarazu city while another unknown blip circles around the area.

"Aegis, what's going on up there?"

"_-Hell if I know, Sensei… Something… or someone just flew in and intercepted the incoming unknown.-_"

_Someone_…? Kaori was dead sure that the blue area where the two blips collided represented the Tokyo Bay, a whole _body of water_. People don't just fly and intercept things in mid-air without any forms of flight assist equipment, in which then she immediately recalls Aegis One previously mentioning about a _platform-shaped flying object_.

"Understood, keep watching the unknowns, Aegis."

"_-Yes, Sensei.-_"

* * *

**========== Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Tumbling across the ground as they crash, the Strike Jabber plants its feet into Inami's abdomen and launches him off its body and into another rocky wall of a hillside.

"Grrh—!"

The Strike Jabber ignites its thruster and dashes for Inami with its energy blade deployed. Through the dirt cloud caused by the impact, he sees the shining energy blade being lunged towards his face. He ducks and rolls aside while he drone stabs the wall. The Strike Jabber eyes suddenly turns red again, this time glowing even brighter and its sight is laid upon the Minerva.

Inami draws out his beam saber, growing cautious of the Strike Jabber's behavior as it points its energy blade at him.

The two remained at a brief standstill and the Strike Jabber makes the first move, dashing towards Inami who runs to the drone with his beam saber held up with both hands on the right side of his chest.

"HYAH…!"

He thrusts the saber into the Strike Jabber's chest but the drone deactivates it energy blade at the last second, spreading its arms aside as the beam saber impales its torso. Shocked by the drone's sudden move, he immediately finds himself forcefully tugged onto it. The drone has clamped its arms around his body and holds him firmly against its own, emitting a shrilling static noise as its red eyes flash rapidly while its shoulder missile launchers begin to glow orange.

_*tzzzt-zzt* __***BOOOM***_

* * *

The infernal explosion created a column of fire so bright that it illuminated nearby expressways, catching the attention of drivers as well as local residents of the surrounding towns and villages. Despite having half the payload when the Strike Jabber self-destructed, the resulting shockwave still caused a minor quake that reaches out to the nearby shrines and the expressways.

Even some of the distant Aegis security troopers that are guarding the Academy were shocked by the explosion.

"My God…!"

"_-I'm reading strong seismic signals from Kisarazu. Aegis, what happened?-_"

Horrified by the sight of the inferno, the trooper could only relay what she saw.

"The unknown… It exploded!"

"_-What…? What about the city, the people?-_"

"It blew up in the middle of a grass field, Sensei. None of the surrounding towns or villages seemed to have been caught in the blast… But—"

"_-Thank goodness… But still, remain on high alert status for anymore attacks.-_"

"…Understood, Sensei."

* * *

**========== Mount Nokogiri, Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

As dawn of a new day breaks, Gerald and Jinrai are at the observation platform looking out towards the direction of Kisarazu city where they previously saw the explosion caused by the self-destructing drone despite being very distant. The atmosphere is cheerless with troubled thoughts filling their minds.

"Did we manage to get any leads, Gerald?"

Gerald shakes his head. He's at loss for words after witnessing the offensive capabilities of the Jabber drones as they are unlike anything he has ever seen.

"They're not IS units. And we have no idea who's fielding them as well…"

"We lost that unit too… and I have yet to complete the replacement. What do you suggest, Gerald?"

"Keep working on the new unit for now, Jinrai. I have a feeling we'll need it soon enough."

"My thoughts exactly."

Jinrai makes his way out of the platform. The automatic door slides open and Jinrai's greeted by the sight of Inami, dressed in grey pants and white t-shirt with the right sleeve bunched up, revealing bandages wrapped around his right wrist and upper arm as well as around his forehead. Aside from his apparent injuries, he greets Jinrai with a nod and enters the platform deck without as much as a limp.

"How are you feeling, Arisawa?"

"Alive. Just the injury's been giving a few pricks, Bastion-san."

"That's good to hear. All that matters is that you came back alive and in one piece."

Inami reminisces the aftermath of his previous battle; The fizzling hologram screen in the Minerva's helmet which repeatedly flashed the powered armor's power capacity at _barely ten-percent_, the outer spherical silhouette that indicates the Minerva's barrier strength is glowing **red** while the inner layers that represents its armor integrity and user vitals are still green. Through the visor, he sees smoldering pieces of the Strike Jabber and the Longboard flight platform, half of it seemingly planted into the ground between him and where the drone was.

"Sorry I came back alone though…"

"It's fine. Using the Longboard as a shield was unprecedented but we had no other choice during then. Both you and the Minerva are Praxidike's _gemstones_ and we can't afford to lose either one. Also, another thing…"

Gerald walks over to Inami's side and puts his hand on his shoulder.

"I've prepared your allowances. For now, you need some time-off, Arisawa."

"Time-off? But Bastion-san, what if the enemy—"

"After two attacks in the row this month alone, there's no doubt that the Academy will be on high alert for a while… The enemy must've known about this too or else they wouldn't have waited a few days after that black IS attack to launch their own."

"Well… If you say so…"

* * *

**========== Hachijo Island, Izu Islands Cluster ==========**

"A single, non-IS unit taking out an _entire_ lance of our Jabbers."

Silently enraged over the operation's failure which also sheds light on the existence of the Minerva, the head of the mysterious terrorist organization turns to a round table where personnel from the hangar bay that's in-charge of the Jabber drones are seated.

"For a maiden operation, we would have been better off _dancing_ our way to the Academy's doorstep in _maid costumes_ with **bombs** strapped to our knickers."

"Umm… Maybe—"

"And now the Academy's back on high alert. That'll be another three days—no. It'll be a _whole week_ of wait until we can attack again. Get your acts together and work out a better plan or build a better drone, whichever's more convenient within that timeframe."

"A-Actually, sir… about that…"

"What is it?"

One of the personnel inserts a diskette-shaped object into a slot on the table's edge and its content is then projected as a hologram on the table itself. The projected hologram appears as an icon of a pair of rabbit's ears then disappears, immediately followed by a projection of five different schematics, each being one of the few prominent Infinite Stratos units currently owned by some of the Representative Cadets that are studying in the IS Academy.

"…Are those what I think they are?"

"Yes, they are, sir. It's the _real_ deal."

"How did… Where did you get these?"

The personnel turn to each other, realizing the awkward truth that they're about to confess.

"Well… We received a transmission from someone, hours after we lost contact with the Jabbers."

The leader raises a brow, wondering as to why he wasn't alerted about it on a moment notice while folding his arms.

"…Go on."

"Only clue we have to the person's identity is that they kept referring to themselves as _'The Genius'_."

He tilts his head. "_Genius?_ What arrogant idiot would call themselves _that_?" Nevertheless, he swipes the thoughts aside before he could dwell further, focusing back on the IS schematics and rubbing his chin as he thinks through various ideas, eventually stopping at one.

"How long would it take to integrate one of these into a Jabber?"

"Umm… Sir? Didn't you say we shouldn't—?"

The leader interrupts by raising his open palm. His heart induces much rage that he desires to lash back but knowing better, he keeps his mind composed and simply stares at the staff.

"I know what I said… and I'll ask again. How long would it take to _integrate_ one of these _into_ a Jabber?"

With the added emphasis, the staffs realize the real question.

"We can do all of them within a week, sir."

* * *

**========== Oamishirasato, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

An hour plus of travelling and Inami finds himself panicking as he stands before the entrance gate of the Katami Dojo, his heart beats with increasing intensity and nervousness. Slightly shaken by thoughts of various possible scenarios flooding his mind, he slowly lifts up his right hand and gently places the tip of his index finger on the doorbell button at the side of the gate.

'_Well… Here goes nothing…!'_

He takes a deep breath and pushes the button firmly.

_*ding-dong~*_

The doorbell chime echoes throughout the dojo grounds, soon fills with silence.

No reply…

Not even a single sign that would indicate that anyone is present in the dojo. Once more, Inami presses the button.

_*ding-dong~*_

Yet again, silence immediately filled in after the chime echoes into nothingness much to his dismay. However, he has yet to give up for there is another place he can look to.

'_Togane. That's where her house is! Maybe she's gone back home!'_

* * *

Evening begins to set in and the sky gradually darkens with the Sun slowly descending into the horizon. Almost an hour after Inami left for the neighboring city of Togane, a maroon-colored sedan pulls up in front of the dojo gates and the driver, who turns out to be Kiyoshi, exits the vehicle.

"All right, we're here!"

At the sedan's backseat, Tsurugi winds down the window and looks up to her father. Her expression seems woe as though she's missed something… or someone, hesitating to leave the car while Kiyoshi looks to her.

"You all right, dear?"

"Father… Can I… stay at home for this week?"

Her request came off with a hesitant tone, fearing that her father would outright reject it. However, he did not. Instead he looks to his wife, _Reika Katami_, as she exits the vehicle's co-driver seat. Her hair is of chestnut color as well, albeit more brighter than Tsurugi's, and is tied with a single ponytail. Her eyes are emerald green unlike her daughter's, whose eyes inherit the vibrant ember color like her father's.

"What is it, Kiyo?"

"Well, our child here wants to go back to Tanaka."

Reika hunches forward and pops her head back into the car, looking at Tsurugi.

"Tsurugi…?"

"It's just… It's been a while since we went back. Thought I could just stay there and maybe do some housekeeping…"

"Your father and I have to instruct classes until the weekends, you'll be living alone until then. Are you sure about this…?"

Tsurugi nods. Though slightly hesitant, Reika knows of her daughter's nature like any mother would of their children and approves her request with a nod, looking back to her husband.

"I'll bring her back."

"All right then. I'll start off with the preparations for tomorrow, Rei."

"Don't work too much, Kiyo. You still need to rest."

"I know, I know. I'll see you this weekend, dear."

Kiyoshi waves with a smile to his daughter as she smiles back to him.

"Yeap! Take care, father!"

* * *

**========== Togane, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

_*ding-dong~*_

Inami tries his luck again, this time with the doorbell of the two-storey Katami residence which he's, once again, greeted with silence. Even the house's lights are off and the gates have been secured together with a padlock. His arms fall to his sides in disappointment, even though the plaque at the side of the gate is engraved with the words _"Katami Residence"_, he fears that the family might've gone somewhere else.

"Well… Guess I picked a bad time to return…"

Heaving a soft sigh, he looks at the house for a brief moment then walks away for a short distance before remembering something else from the back of his mind.

'_Oh right… Since I'm already here, might as well…'_

Inami makes his way to a nearby floristry shop, barely remembering the directions within the town.

"Hoh, Inami-chan! Is that you?"

Greeting him is the shop's florist, _Usagi Nazumi_, who appears to be in her mid-thirties with short, charcoal-grey hair and dons a dark purple kimono with a white sash around her waist.

"Nazumi-san! It's been a long while!"

"_Six_ years, yes. My goodness, you've grown so much! Last time I saw you were like half the height you are now. What have you been doing?"

Within her pearly red eyes is a curious stare, surprised to see Inami suddenly return, all grown up. He could only scratch his head. There's just no way will he bluntly tell her "_I've been out deterring terrorist attacks!_" even though he knows there's a good chance that she would take it as a joke. Nevertheless, he still doesn't want to risk exposing himself.

"I uh… I've been… _travelling_."

"Is that so? Tsurugi-chan told me you were _kidnapped_ or something. She's been rather moody when she couldn't find you."

"She— _err_… Anyways, have you seen her around lately? I went to the dojo but they weren't there so I came here… but they're not here as well."

"That's strange… The whole family left for the dojo like three days ago. They're not there?"

Inami shakes his head in dismay, fearing that he might've missed them for real.

"Oh… I'm really sorry, Inami-chan. That's all I know…"

"It's all right. I came here to get a blue lily too… It's been a while since I've come here so thought it's only right that I pay my late parents a visit."

"Sure thing. Wait here for a bit, yeah?"

* * *

The day has entered late evening and the surroundings are mostly engulfed in darkness safe for several streetlights along the roads and pavements. Inami walks into the cemetery with a lighted lantern on one hand while the other is holding a stalk of blue Japanese lily and a small wax candle. Despite the chilling atmosphere, he's hardly frightened seeing as his mind is all set to pay respect to his late parents.

He stops by a familiar gravestone and holds the lantern near to illuminate the engravings; _Kazuya Arisawa_ and _Naomi Arisawa_, the engraved names of his father and mother respectively as a bittersweet feeling swell in his heart. He gently places the lantern on the ground and takes out a box of matches from his pocket which he then proceeds to light up a matchstick, slowly lowering the stick's burning end on the exposed thread on top of the candle.

As soon as the candle is lighted, he blows out the matchstick, places it back into the box and puts it back into his pocket seeing as he does not wish to litter on such hallowed grounds. The lighted candle is then placed upon the base of the gravestone along with the blue-petal lily. He gets down on both knees and puts his hands together, closing his eyes shut as he silently prays.

Undisturbed by the chilling winds or the softly howling noises within the cemetery, Inami finishes his prayers and opens his eyes. Deep inside his heart, he's still saddened by the tragic loss but his emotions remains strong and his eyes barely shed a tear.

Instead, he grows a soft, sincere smile.

'_I'm sorry mother, father. I know it would not be in your best interest to realize that I've been involved in this life-threatening commitment. But you see, something is not right in this world… and I want to set it right again, for the sake of this world. Please, forgive me… I just can't leave the world be as it is. Please… guide me through these times. I just can't do this alone…!'_

His heart grows heavy with his sorrowful emotions but he still manages to get back on his feet, picking up the lantern as he takes one more look at the gravestone.

'_I missed you two… so much. I love you… I always will, no matter where you are.'_

Leaving the lily and the lighted candle behind, Inami begins to make his way out of the cemetery only to be greeted with the sight of another familiar figure standing ahead of him.

"Tsu-chan…?"

It was none other than his childhood friend, Tsurugi Katami, staring straight at him with tears starting to flow from her eyes. Her gaping mouth staggers as it turns into a beaming smile upon seeing her long-lost childhood friend standing right before her, alive and well. She could not control her emotions further, letting loose her tears as she sprints towards him with open arms. Inami quickly puts down the lantern and greets her with open arms as well.

Nothing else mattered to Tsurugi at that moment as the two embraced each other. Her emotions, her thoughts… All she cares about is seeing him, holding him tight to affirm that it wasn't a dream. She was even at loss for words as she could only sob uncontrollably with her face planted to his chest.

Inami could feel her choked breaths through the fabrics of his shirt, slowly stroking her silky hair to comfort her.

"I'm sorry, Tsu-chan…"

"I missed you… Ina-kun… I missed you so much!"

"I know… I missed you too."

Tsurugi parts her face from his chest where she sees wet marks on his shirt caused by her tears. Inami wipes the tears off her cheeks with his thumb as she releases his body, holding both his hands and smiling cheerfully at him.

"How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't. I was just planning to stay alone at home for the week… When mum dropped me off and left, Nazumi-san called out to me and told me you came back and bought a lily. I… I couldn't believe it, I just rushed here without thinking… and here you are!"

"Thank goodness… I nearly gave up when I couldn't find you at the dojo or the house. I thought you were out for a vacation."

She swipes her index finger across the bottom of her nose.

"You must've arrived early then. We were out shopping in Chiba the entire day…"

"I see…"

"Come on, let's go home. We have _a lot_ to catch up on."

* * *

The atmosphere within the Katami Residence is much too silent yet very peaceful unlike the tense atmosphere at Praxidike's base of operations, where he constantly needs to be mentally-prepared to sortie at the drop of a hat. Inami relaxes on a cushioning sofa with Tsurugi sitting immediately next to him, both of them holding on to ceramic cups filled with warm tea. Despite their close proximity, the two barely showed any signs of embarrassment as they enjoy the comfort of each other's company.

"How long has it been…?"

Tsurugi breaks the silence between them. Like any other reunion, someone has to break the ice.

"Six years, almost. Seems things have changed a lot during then…"

"It has, yeah… My parents have held classes at the dojo for five years now. Training students from the neighboring towns and villages…"

Out the corner of his eyes, Inami spots four golden plaques of different shapes neatly arranged on top of a shelf. Each plaque has her family name engraved on them along with imprints of various training institutions, almost resembling prize plaques from competitions.

"You took part in the prefecturals?"

Tsurugi turns to him and notices his sight upon the plaques.

"Oh, those? They're plaques of appreciation given by other training schools for our service in training some of their students. From what my parents told me, all the students they've trained excelled remarkably in their respective schools."

"That's awesome!"

"Yeap! So… what's _your_ story?"

Inami could lie or do anything just to make sure his current profession as a powered armor user remains hidden. Yet, he couldn't. It could've been anyone else that asked him this question and he would've instantly come up with an excuse but _never_ when it comes to Tsurugi, someone whom he remembers making a past promise with to not lie.

"Erm… My story…? Uh…"

"…?"

There's no way he'll be able to escape the question at this point. He knows it well but remains hesitant for fear that she might not take it positively, if it does have something positive about to begin with.

"Actually, Tsu-chan… Throughout the past six years, I've been… well…"

* * *

**=== [End of Chapter 3] ===**


	4. Chapter 4 - The Hyperion Styx

**Infinite Stratos: Athena**

**Chapter 4: The Hyperion Styx**

* * *

**========== Tanaka, Togane, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

The living room within the Katami residence is filled with dead silence with Inami and Tsurugi sitting at the sofa, staring at each other while the former grits his teeth and the latter raising a brow. All the tense suspense is then shattered with Tsurugi bursting into laughter.

"AHAHAHA~! Come on now, Ina-kun! A _secretive, underground_ group? _Powered armor_? We may have not seen each other for six years but for you to have such a sense of humor…"

"_Tch_…"

Inami isn't sure if he should feel disappointed or glad that Tsurugi did not believe his confession as a member of a renegade organization and instead replies with a light smack to his back. His emotions are in a terrible mix; part of him assured that he's confessed the truth and everything's okay while the other insists she needs to be explained that it's genuine. As much as his heart is leaning towards laughing it off with her, he wants her to acknowledge that it's the truth.

He gets up from the sofa, much to her surprise as she stops laughing, and walks over to the dining table where he sees the newspaper for the day before. Before he could take it, he notices an article on the front page of the paper which has a picture of a fire column on a mountaintop. He scans through the article and sees the stated location of the "mysterious explosions" incident as _Sunosaki_, one of the towns in Tateyama that was close to Mount Daisen where he previously fought the Jabber drones.

As he scans through the rest of the article which takes up a good portion of the page, his eyes widen in horror at a particular part of the article; the explosion on Mount Daisen apparently triggered a minor rockslide which injured a few of the residents in Sunosaki, one of them reported to have been sent to the hospital for major fractures.

"Oh no…"

His right hand trembled and curls into a fist, accidentally crushing a part of the page. Tsurugi gets off the sofa, her face losing its smile as she notices him perturbed all of a sudden.

"Ina-kun? What's wrong?"

"Ah—!"

Inami quickly loosens his right fist, promptly noticing the crushed portion of the paper underneath which he then tries to spread back out.

"N-Nothing… I'm all right. I just need to shower a bit…"

Without even glancing back at Tsurugi, Inami briskly leaves the living room while she walks over to the dining table, confused about his sudden mood change until she sees the newspaper on the table has a part of it wrinkled.

* * *

**========== Mount Nokogiri, Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Gerald enters the hangar bay and sees Jinrai propping up the Minerva's armor parts onto what appears to be a tall, cylindrical storage container. Lying around him are toolboxes which he has neatly arranged to keep his working area clear.

"Is this it?"

"Yeah. This is the portable _Mounting Platform_ that will allow him to mount the Minerva armor within seconds."

The Mounting Platform appears as a tall cylindrical container. The mid-section of the container splits open to reveal a platform with a lot of sub-arm appendages on the underside of the split mid-sections, holding onto various parts of the Minerva powered armor including the helmet at the top and the boots at the platform base. The Mounting Platform's sub-arms then retract simultaneously along with the Minerva's parts as the split mid-sections close up, turning the Mounting Platform into its alternate portable container form.

"Whoa… Impressive! But you can't just _carry_ this thing around…"

"That's where the CSFP comes in."

Jinrai ushers Gerald to the Type One flight platform that's standing upright and appears to be mostly assembled with only its left wing is still yet to be attached to the main body. Like the preceding Longboard, the Type One appears to have retractable cargo cords, each with a magnetic latch at the end, hidden within concealing panels on the unit's underside.

"The CSFP will be needed to carry the Mounting Platform. The cords are much tougher and the magnetic latches can hold heavier items compared to the Longboard before it. I should be done with the CFSP by tomorrow afternoon."

"The sooner the better… But don't push yourself too hard, Jinrai."

"Don't worry, boss. You're looking at a guy who's worked half a week straight and survived with nothing more than just coffee."

* * *

**========== Tanaka, Togane, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Inami exits the showers, dressed in his usual blue t-shirt and grey pants with a towel around his neck. Feeling refreshed after a warm bath, he makes his way to the staircase which leads his former bedroom on the upper level, passing by the living room along the way. He glances to the living room but Tsurugi isn't there, the lights are switched off and the cups are gone along with the newspaper… A gloomy aura shrouds upon him.

'_Guess I shouldn't have stepped out like that… I'll have to apologize to her tomorrow.'_

He sighs and proceeds to climb the stairs, yawning as he makes his way to the upper level. The stairs end with a T-junction; to the right is where Tsurugi and her parents' bedrooms are situated while the left goes to a former guest room which had been made into a simple bedroom for him since he was adopted by the Katami family. The hallways are very dim but with enough illumination for him to see the floor.

As he opens the slide-door that leads to his room, he gasps in shock. It's Tsurugi, standing in the middle of the room with her arms folded and facing a clear slide-door that leads to a small balcony outside the room. Upon hearing his gasp, she turns to him with a mixed expression of anger and anxiousness.

"T-Tsu-chan…! I thought you already went to bed—"

Without even giving Inami a chance to finish his sentence, Tsurugi pulls him into the room and closes the slide-door shut behind him.

"I can't just go to bed knowing that you're troubled, Ina-kun. We promised we'd take care of each other, didn't we?"

Tsurugi goes to sit against a wall as Inami does the same, sitting next to her while staring out the clear balcony door.

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have stepped off like that. It's been sometime and I just needed a moment…"

"Don't apologize. I let you off for shower because I know you do… Then again, don't ever forget that I'm always here for you. Even though we are not related by blood, we still treat each other like siblings, right?"

Inami nods with a small smile and Tsurugi places her hand on his.

"So… What happened? Praxidike, Minerva? How are they relevant to that accident in Sunosaki?"

He turns to her with a raised brow. Just moments earlier she was laughing it off and dismissing it as an elaborate joke but now… her tone is different. It is much more sincere and genuinely caring.

"I thought you didn't believe me about those?"

"I didn't. But then when I saw your expression when you walked away, when you unconsciously crumpled the newspaper article in your fist… I knew right away that I was wrong to ridicule you. I'm really sorry, Ina-kun."

He smiles to her, knowing that she has accepted the genuine truth.

"I was intercepting armed drone units that attempted to execute a sneak terror attack upon the Infinite Stratos Academy. Clashed with them before they could even reach Tokyo Bay and we ended up at Tateyama."

"What about the explosions?"

"There were two instances where explosions occurred. One was by a drone when it fired missiles at me and the other… by me, when I destroyed one of them. But even so… it wouldn't have mattered seeing as I'm technically the cause of both. Either way, I'm still responsible for that accident."

"Come to think of it, Ina-kun… Have you ever wondered what might have happened had you not intercepted the drones?"

The question sounded familiar to Inami as he recalls a vaguely similar line from Gerald when he debriefed him after his first sortie in the Minerva against the Golem IS.

'_Had you not tried to intercept, the Academy would have to deal with two of those monsters.'_

"…Yeah. The Academy would have fallen for the sneak attack."

Tsurugi smiles to him, curling her fingers down to hold his hand below hers.

"A lot more people would've been hurt. Some might've even lost their lives. Yet, you were there to make sure that does not happen. That's what matters the most, Ina-kun."

In gratitude of her motivating words, Inami puts his other hand on top of hers, holding it firmly.

"Thank you, Tsu-chan."

"I never liked the fact that you're risking your life alone… Then again…"

Tsurugi releases his hand and Inami puts his arm around her as she shifts herself closer, putting his hand on the side of her head as she rests against his shoulder.

"You're protecting people… so your heart must be just as strong as your resolve to protect, maybe even greater."

"You're right."

* * *

**========== Infinite Stratos Academy ==========**

The chime for lunch time rings through the classrooms as students begin to make their way for the cafeteria, chatting amongst each other along the way.

"_At least class wasn't so boring…_"

"_Hmm… Should I try a different stall today…?_"

"_Ah… There's Orimura!_"

"_Forget it, Kirin. There's no way you're getting close to him with his special classmates around._"

"_B'awh… Had to say it, don't you?_"

Class One student and the only male student in the Academy, _Ichika Orimura_, is particularly disturbed by the ever-ongoing obvious gossips centered around him being passed around amongst the other students of the Academy, including some of the senior students.

"_Hey Marida, guess what? Apparently something big happened near the Academy last night._"

"_Really now? What was it?_"

Alas, a gossip that doesn't mention him and he turns to the voice which turns out to be a couple of students ahead of him walking towards his direction. Then again, _"something big"_…? Near the Academy? Those phrases caught his attention almost instantly.

"_Yeah… I heard from some of the seniors who stayed in during the vacation. They said there were like a couple of robots fighting outside the Academy._"

"_Robots? What kind?_"

"_I heard they were humanoids… and they were fighting somewhere in Kisarazu, then there was an explosion!_"

"_What? Seriously?_"

"_It's what I heard…_"

The conversation fades into the distance while Ichika still maintains his stare, oblivious to the queue gap in front of him as his fellow classmate, England's Representative Cadet _Cecilia Alcott_ peeks over his shoulder and nudges him.

"Ichika-san?"

"Ah—! Oh, right…! Sorry!"

He briskly steps up to the counter while mustering up every bit of his mind to ignore the looming dark aura emanating from the long queue that he has unconsciously jammed behind him. The two classmates then make their way towards a circular table where their friends are already seated while words Ichika heard from the other two students earlier echoes in his mind.

'_Robots…? Outside the Academy?'_

* * *

Within the secret basement base of operations, the three instructors Chifuyu, Maya and Kaori look towards the main hologram screen as it projects the radar activity from the previous evening. A single white blip heading straight towards the Academy and is intercepted by two other, one of which collides with it and gets diverted to Kisarazu city's territory. The remaining blip circling around the other two suddenly shifts its path towards the other two, zipping straight into them and instantly disappears along with the other unknown blips.

"That's it?"

"Not quite yet, Orimura. Shortly after the blips disappeared we detected seismic fluctuations originating from Kisarazu… Aegis Two reported an explosion."

"Explosion? Murakumo, does that mean the city was…?"

"Aegis One confirmed that the explosion occurred on an open area and the nearest infrastructure is well beyond the blast radius."

"I see… So the unknowns were destroyed in the blast?"

"Actually, that wasn't the end of it. _This_ happened shortly after."

At the very spot where the three blips disappeared together, a single blip flashes very dimly, indicating a very weak radar signal was being emitted from the originator at the point of time. The dimly-flashing blip begins to inch away from the location, heading due south. As the instructors watch the blip's staggering movement, an idea strikes Chifuyu's mind.

"Yamada, did we archive the unknown radar signatures from the attack three days ago?"

"It's in the records. Why?"

"Run a cross-reference. I have a feeling that some of these unknowns are the same as the ones present during then."

Without another word, Maya goes to the operator's console and begins to bring up records of various radar signatures, projecting the archive onto the main screen as it compares each of the records with the lone blip. The instructors patiently wait as each record that's being compared does not match with the unknown signal.

_*beep—!*_

_One_ record matched. It is then pulled from the archive and projected as a separate window on the hologram screen.

"The same signal that was in Ichihara alongside the rogue black IS…"

Kaori raises her eyebrows at Chifuyu, who then puts her hand under her chin.

"We sent Aegis One and Two to investigate the area that day. They found shallow footprints that were _a third_ bigger than a typical teenager's in their late teens and some armor fragments which we brought over to the Science block staff. According to them, it's most likely some sort of titanium alloy but they couldn't determine from the fragments what kind exactly…"

Hearing Chifuyu's explanation of the unknown unit brings Kaori to recall a separate investigation.

"We lost the unknown's signal shortly after so I sent Aegis Two to investigate the area where the explosion occurred. She reported mechanical remains littered the area."

"Mechanical…? You're suggesting that these unknowns are autonomous units?"

"It's _very_ likely that they were… including the one that survived."

* * *

**========== Tanaka, Togane, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Standing by the edge of a huge lake with foliage of trees around it, Inami stares at the body of water with a relieving sigh while Tsurugi walks up to his side with two bottled drinks in hand.

"Here, your favorite!"

He turns to his side as she hands him a bottle which turns out to be _blueberry_ juice. As he takes the bottle from her, he notices the bottle of _peach_ juice in her other hand.

"Some things just don't change, do they?"

"Of course! I can never hate peach juice… Blueberry on the other hand, I still don't understand how you're actually able to drink _that_."

"Why not? I like the mint-ish taste that blueberry juice has. Peach juice just doesn't sit well with my system, it tastes…"

Inami trembles as though he's in a very cold environment to deliver his point on peach juice, which doesn't quite sit well with Tsurugi given it being her most favorite fruit juice. Her grip on the bottle tightened, lightly crumpling the bottle's plastic body while showing a bit of her gritting teeth.

"T-That's pushing it, Ina-kun! Not like its poison or anything!"

"I didn't say that! I just—wait, why are we arguing over this?"

"Like I'll know…"

He sighs and turns back to the lake, uncapping the bottle then takes a short gulp of the blueberry juice. Tsurugi stands next to him and looks out to the lake as well.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it?"

"Mm…"

Mental images of his past memories flash into his mind; memories of him pulling her out of the lake using a wooden oar as she's completely drenched with a terrified expression on her face after she almost drowned in the lake. As he reminisce the memories, his silence draws her sights to him.

"You don't remember?"

"I do. Geez, you really gave me a heart attack that day! There's no way I'll ever forget that…"

Seeing Inami flustered about their past incident gives Tsurugi a warm, fuzzy feeling in her heart, knowing that he has not forgotten one of their most memorable childhood moments. She also recalls how firmly she tugged onto him during then, crying out loud and shivering from the cold water that has drenched her clothes while Inami simply held her tight and stroke her hair to keep her calm.

"Say, is the boat rental still here?"

"Yes, it is. Why…?"

"Isn't it obvious? Let's go for a short tour around the lake!"

Inami grabs her hand firmly that she nearly blushed from the sudden contact.

"EH? B-But I—"

"It'll be fine, let's go!"

* * *

Soon after, the two are seated in a small, wooden rowboat with Inami holding the twin two-piece wooden oars that are solidly attached to the rowboat's sides via pivots. Sitting towards the front of the rowboat with his back facing the bow, he slowly rows the boat around the lake while Tsurugi sits across him, looking around as she enjoys the scenery.

"Loving the view?"

"Yeah…"

Inami releases the oars, letting the boat drift aimlessly around the lake as he too glances around at the beautiful, picturesque environment. Trees lined up around the lake that's covering the lake's edges with their canopies of leaves in various shades of green and orange. Fallen branches litter at some parts of the lake's edge while some drifts afloat, giving the environment the untouched natural look which adds to the peaceful ambience.

"Hey, Tsu-chan."

Tsurugi turns to him upon the first notice of his question.

"Yes?"

"I've been thinking about what you said last night… And I can't help but ask this…"

Inami looks at her, noticing a slight change of expression on her face as her smile shrinks.

"If you are given power, would you be willing to bear the responsibilities that will come with it?"

"No."

Flat-out and honest answer from Tsurugi makes him mentally re-register what he just heard, causing an awkward silence between them.

"…No?"

"I told you, didn't I? I do not like it when you're the only one fighting. Even if I'm given the power or the means to do so, I will not be willing to bear the responsibilities alone."

"Why's that?"

As Tsurugi thinks through, the ambience is disturbed by chirping birds as they fly over the lake.

"…I'm scared. The thoughts of risking my life alone… Not a single person by my side to support me. It feels sad somehow."

He nods with a respectful huff and a smile, acknowledging her concerns despite the answer being completely off from what he expected.

"What about you, Ina-kun?"

"…What do you mean?"

"What is the resolve that keeps you going?"

"My resolve…?"

He looks up to the sky where a pair of contrails traces across from a very distant plane.

"To protect people. To set this world back on its track…"

"Back on its track?"

"I mean, I want to find these terrorists who have been plotting to attack the Academy and make them stop."

* * *

**========== Hachijo Island, Izu Islands Cluster ==========**

Inside a separate, smaller hangar bay, five stripped-down Jabbers are being installed with armor frame sets of different color schemes and design. Designated as _Replica Jabbers_ on the screen of a nearby computer terminal, it also shows wireframes of each of the drones with their new armor frames which resemble closely to that of the Infinite Stratos schematics that were presented earlier.

Yet unlike the schematics which are genuine Infinite Stratos units with human pilots, the Replica Jabbers appear slightly bulkier and taller than their original counterparts along with their central pilot being replaced with a specialized central Jabber as the "pilot". Aside from their limbs, their heads are also replaced with unique frames to closely match those on the originals. Labeled _R1_ to _R5_, each Replica Jabber is designated a different name given their specifications; _Glint Jabber_, _Draco Jabber_, _Stark Jabber_, _Focus Jabber_ and _Nacht Jabber_.

Of all five replica drones, only the Glint Jabber has its armor set mounted. Its armor frame is overall aerodynamic, slim hands and central body with broad legs. The replica also sports a huge pair of wings that are attached to its back. In addition to the thruster vernier on its back, the Glint Jabber sports numerous thrusters inside the legs and the wings, where most of the drone's thrusters are located and concealed under different sections of the wings. The Glint Jabber is primarily colored white with very few yellow and blue highlights across its forelimbs, wings and legs like that of the _Byakushiki_.

Several personnel in the hangar bay keep track of the mounting process with their hand-held tablet computers while overhead suspended sub-arms carefully put the armor parts on the respective replica drones.

"_-How are R series coming?-_"

The voice of their leader speaks through a voice-only transmission from one of the personnel's tablet.

"We've just completed Unit One's frame mounting. It'll be on its way to the Trial Chambers soon for flight tests, sir."

"_-Good, good. Everything's moving according to plan. What of the weapons?-_"

"Being constructed as we speak, sir. Once done, they will also be sent to the Trial Chambers to be equipped onto the respective units for operation tests."

"_-Noted. Keep working on it. I'll be heading to the mainland to see what I can find out about our mysterious vigilante. Maintain radio silence until I return, clear?-_"

"Yes, sir."

* * *

**========== Tanaka, Togane, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

After a long, stress-relieving boat ride, Inami and Tsurugi make their way home while passing by acres of plain fields. Despite the Sun mercilessly bathing the environment with heat, the gentle afternoon breeze sweeps across, swaying the plantation stalks like waves on the ocean. While Inami enjoys the breeze through his white, short-sleeved collarless shirt and light grey shorts, Tsurugi dressed in white spaghetti-strap top, tries to keep her short, sky-blue skirt down against the wind.

"Guess this place hasn't changed one bit…"

Smiling at his remarks, Tsurugi runs up to his back and clings onto him.

"Hey, remember when we used to lay in the field at night, trying to count the number of stars in the sky?"

"Yeah… Then you keep falling asleep and I have to carry you all the way back home."

"_Tch_… It's not _that_ long of a walk anyway."

As they walk further, Tsurugi gets off his back and walks alongside him.

"Say, Ina-kun… Can we do it again tonight? Laying at the fields and staring into the sky?"

"Sure, why not?"

Like a clingy person, she wraps both her hands around his left arm and sticks her shoulder onto his. The sudden proximity prompts him to turn his head to her but he holds no qualm or embarrassment seeing as he regards her as a younger sister, allowing her to stay close to him as they walk along the roadside.

"I wonder, Ina-kun…"

"Hmm?"

"Since we're at this age, wouldn't you be worried by what people might say if they see us this close to each other?"

Slowly, Inami's face begins to turn red.

"Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

"Well… You holding me this close… feels like we're a couple."

"_You're_ the one that's holding…! Then again, if it bothers you, I'll just—"

Tsurugi quickly tightens her grip around his arm, keeping her head down to hide her blushing face.

"I-It's fine! I-I don't mind it at all since it's you…"

"Um… All right then."

* * *

**========== Mount Nokogiri, Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Standing at the observation deck of the Praxidike's base of operations, Gerald looks out as the sky is gradually consumed by darkness while the transparent hologram screen shows a countdown timer at sixty seconds and counting down. He taps on a communicator that's hooked over his right ear while the hologram screen shows another window of a live camera feed of the linear catapult deck, where the Type One flight platform is standing idle at the starting end with the cylindrical Mounting Platform attached on top of it.

"Jinrai, what's the status of the launch?"

"_-Linear voltage already at seventy, no anomalies with the CSFP so far… Where are we dropping the Mounting Platform again?-_"

"Standby, I'm trying to get Arisawa on the line."

Gerald steps over to the console on the deck, tapping on keys which then project a progress bar on the hologram screen labeled "Link-Up". Upon reaching a full bar, both it and the label disappears and replaced with a single-flash "Linked" indicator along with a single beeping tone.

"_-Bastion-san?-_"

"Arisawa, we're about to send you a package. But I'll need you to set a waypoint for us."

"-_Package…? What—_-"

"You'll see. Quick, we only have a brief window here."

"_-Track my location, Bastion-san.-_"

The hologram screen projects another window showing an overview map of the Chiba Prefecture, zooming in upon the city of Togane and further into Tanaka where a flashing blip indicates Inami's current position.

"Done, now what?"

"_-About a hundred meters due west, there's a piece of land jutting out into a nearby lake. It's a remote location surrounded by trees that no one but I know how to access, you can drop it there.-_"

"All right then. The package is air-dropped and will be arriving within thirty minutes, see to it."

"_-Understood.-_"

"Another thing, Arisawa."

"_-Eh?-_"

"Just to make things clear, the package is the Minerva."

"_-The Minerva…? But why would you—?-_"

"With every intervention carried out, we have noticed a surge of investigations going on within our base's proximity so we're initiating a temporary lockdown. We can't afford to let our location be known to the public."

"_-No way… Is it because I—?-_"

"No one is at fault here, Arisawa. It's only human to be curious about odd incidents… In any case, from here on, the Minerva will be in your care. We'll let you know once the lockdown is over."

"_-Wait! What about you—-_"

Gerald immediately terminates the transmission before Inami could finish his words and links his communicator back to Jinrai's, looking back at the camera feed of the catapult deck.

"Got the coordinates, Jinrai?"

"_-Before you somehow managed to gauge "thirty minutes" of delivery time, yes. The CSFP will only take __**half**__ that time to reach Togane, you know?-_"

"Right… Send the package out, will you?"

"_-Slinging.-_"

Through the camera feed, Gerald watches as the Type One gets launched off the electromagnetic linear catapult, leaving trails of sparks and streaking out from Mount Nokogiri towards Togane's direction which is marked on the overview map on the observation deck's hologram screen.

"_-So… What was that lockdown thing you told him about?-_"

"When presented with the scenario of having nowhere to retreat, he will instinctively learn to take care of his limited assets. In this case, he'll need to learn to _not_ wreck the Minerva during missions."

"_-Did I ever tell you how mean you can be sometimes?-_"

"Not yet. In the mean time, you should carry on with your projects. Ring me up if something big comes our way."

"_-Got it. Be careful out there.-_"

* * *

**========== Ota, Tokyo ==========**

In the afternoon of the following day, Gerald sits at a table at a roadside cafeteria with another person who, unbeknownst to Gerald, is the leading member of the renegade group that has been fielding the Jabber drones in the recent attacks. Turns out the person, _Clause Ryan_, happens to be an old friend of Gerald and the two are equally surprised to see each other in Japan as though it would have been the place they would least expect to run into each other.

"Of all places we could've met, Gerald. It has to be here… In _this_ country."

"Still harboring, I see. It's been _nine_ years since then, Clause. I thought you've dropped it within three."

Grabbing a glass of iced tea, Clause scoffs in ridicule as he takes a sip.

"You should've known that I wouldn't. Anyways, that matter aside, what have you been up to?"

"Mucking about. Not a fancy vacation… though not exactly a peaceful one either if you have been following the news."

"…Right. Chaos seems to shadow our steps ever since Hyperion… Feels as though the whole world is forcing us to accept their existence and—"

"Clause, don't. This isn't the United States."

Clause sighs, lowering his glass while Gerald drinks up his own.

* * *

Soon after, the two men are at a park in _Jonanjima_, looking out to the Infinite Stratos Academy sitting on an island in the middle of Tokyo Bay with a two-rail monorail line linking between the school and the artificial neighboring island, _Odaiba_. As a passenger airliner passes overhead, the booming noise of the plane's turbine jet engines hardly shook both of them. Gerald simply sits back on a bench with his arms outstretched along the top of the bench's backrest while Clause stands ahead with his hands inside the pockets of his pants, staring straight at the Academy with frowned eyes.

"Gerald… How did you manage to live with _this_?"

Gerald briefly glances to Clause and heaves a short sigh, knowing well where he's getting to.

"I moved on."

"How, Gerald? You know what happened to Hyperion—"

"What happened to Hyperion, Clause, is the exact same thing other inferior corporations succumbed to. Business, a contest, a never-ending _Cold War_… Hyperion already had it coming. It was only a matter of time before the torch had to be passed."

"…You do have a point there. But still, I just can't let it be. Hyperion was everything to me. My life, my hobby, my commitment to pave the way for humanity to reach the frontiers of outer space…!"

"It was my commitment too. We fought for it together, didn't we?"

"We did."

Clause falls onto the bench and slouches, putting his hands together and closing his eyes briefly.

"But our paths differ from there on."

"You wanted to take up arms—"

"I already have."

Gerald narrows his eyes on Clause who then gets off the bench with his hands behind his back.

"The Jabber, does it ring a bell?"

The name sounded all too familiar to Gerald though in his mind, memories of the name manifest itself in a form of a rounded rectangular object which resembled an external hard-disk drive.

"Yes, its Hyperion's crown jewel. The first ever artificial intelligence unit to take control of a customized unmanned shuttle, _Aspire_, and completing a full orbital sortie."

"It wasn't just that. It was Hyperion's lifeblood and soul… Hell, you can even say it's the very manifestation of the Corporation itself."

"Say, Clause… You once told me you have the original data of the Jabber. If I may ask, what happened to it?"

Clause feels hesitant to answer. It felt as though it's a dark, personal secret that he is not supposed to share. Yet again, he recalls confessing his planned agenda to Gerald years ago and that his reaction was merely indifferent aside from his prompt refusal to take part. He turns and looks over his shoulder to Gerald with frowned eyes that would suggest total seriousness in his imminent reply.

"I told you, I've taken up arms. If you wish to seek the AI, a good place to look would be… hmm…"

Clause turns back to look at the Academy and his hands fall to his sides.

"A certain non-existent renegade organization that has been not been fielding hostile autonomous units to attack the Academy. An organization that was not born from the ashes of the Jabber's will to avenge Hyperion and thus, did not manifest itself into a legion of attack drones. An organization where someone like me, who harbors contempt for the Infinite Stratos system would certainly choose not to lead."

As much as Gerald is surprised, he only lets off a sigh.

"So it was your doing after all…"

"I know that tone, Gerald. Just like back in Hyperion, that tone is an instant giveaway of your disapproval and you would immediately formulate something to set it back on track."

"It's how I describe a silly move or decision, Clause. You've worked with me long enough to see that."

"I have, yes. Which is why it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume… let say, the employment of a _mysterious, armored vigilante_ to deter my plans would have been formulated by you at this point."

Gerald grunts. It was as though his former colleague actually knows of his real occupation. But without a solid proof for Clause to confirm as such, Gerald turns his head away and snickers.

"You don't _just_ employ vigilantes, Clause. Unlike you, I'm not the one with the audacity to use military-grade weaponry against a _school_."

"I would've expected that much. Then again, I'm glad… You did stick to your words of not succumbing to the IS system like the others did."

"The politics are… _complicated_. That and I figured that you've already planned to kill me this instant if I said I really was."

Clause shakes his head, turning back to Gerald.

"I would've already known right from the start if you had, Gerald. You wouldn't have lived to see this day where the _Hyperion Styx_ exacts vengeance on the very system that brought about the Corporation's downfall… and _lying_ about its own true purpose of deep-space exploration."

"Hyperion Styx…?"

"The hammer of the former Corporation. That is the name of the organization I'm currently leading, the one which has, regrettably, disturbed your non-fancy vacation here with its mass army of Jabber unmanned attack drones."

"And by telling me all this…? I presume you—?"

"You have always been trying hard to live life easily, Gerald. I know you are not to type to stir up a commotion by turning in a former colleague-turned-terrorist to the officials."

"…So you got me there."

"I'd like to think of this as merely me being polite enough to keep you in the loop."

"I appreciate it."

* * *

**=== [End of Chapter 4] ===**


	5. Chapter 5 - Silver Gospel

**Infinite Stratos: Athena**

**Chapter 5: Silver Gospel**

* * *

**========== Strategic Defense Point No. 16, Alaska, Northwest America ==========**

Within the confines of a secluded military base which seemingly houses a small task force of attack helicopters, tanks and other military vehicles, the ground shook violently all of a sudden, rocking even vehicles off their balance as personnel began to look around for the source of the quake. The quake grows even stronger that bits of concrete and metal frames begin to crumble both in and outside the buildings until an open tarmac is suddenly riddled with thick energy bits shooting from _underground_.

***BOOM***

"GYAAA…!"

A portion of the tarmac explodes and sends personnel throwing their bodies onto the ground as the silver-white, experimental Infinite Stratos unit, _Silver Gospel_, blasts its way out from underground. The IS ascends to the sky and hovers in invert, scanning military vehicles in the area before targeting the unoccupied ones. The Silver Gospel spreads out its metal wings and generates more energy bits with soft, short hums being emitted as each of the hundreds that are formed around its wings.

The IS throws its arm forward and the bits immediately rain upon the targeted vehicles, riddling them with holes and blowing them into smithereens.

"_Ergh_…!"

One of the few surviving soldiers looks up to the sky, noticing a faint but noticeable figure within the smoke column that's spewing out from the hole on the tarmac.

"That can't be… the Silver Gospel?"

Sirens wail across the entire base, alerting everyone to the ongoing attack while the base's personal announcement (PA) system comes online.

"_-All units, this is Tower. Be advised, we have a berserk Infinite Stratos on the loose. I repeat, we have a Code One alert threat in the base.-_"

A couple of M1 Abrams battle tanks enter the scene and turn their turrets towards the Silver Gospel as it hovers high above.

"_-This is Prowl Lead, targeting Gospel.-_"

"Wait! Don't!"

***BOOF***

The Silver Gospel turns its body away and dodges the shell, looking back to the tank as it raises its arm towards it. More energy bits form on its wings which then dart on the lone tank.

"Get out of here—!"

The energy bits tear apart the tank's caterpillar tracks, rendering the vehicle immobile while the other tank reverses away while furiously firing its machinegun at the IS.

***DADADADADADADADA***

"_-Lead's stumped, I'm pulling back! Damn it… Damn it!-_"

Dodging every single shot fired towards it, the Silver Gospel fires more energy bits towards the retreating tank and destroys its caterpillar tracks as well. With the tanks immobilized, the IS lands on top of the lead tank and plants its left foot on the turret top while bending the turret upwards.

"_-She's on me…! Two, take the shot!-_"

"_-But you'll—-_"

"_-__**NOW**__, DAMN IT!-_"

The Silver Gospel sees the other tank aiming its turret at it and jumps off, generating more energy bits and firing them onto the second tank.

* * *

**========== Oamishirasato, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

***GTAK***

An audience of young students in their early teens watches in awe at the firm clashing of two _shinai_, or bamboo swords. On one side, Tsurugi holds her weapon up with only her right hand while keeping the left behind her waist. The other side is Inami with both hands gripped on his shinai's hilt, struggling to keep his weapon down against her strength. Unbeknownst to the young teens, the two are actually engaging in a _genuine_ sparring session instead of a _mock_ duel that her mother, Reika told beforehand.

'_Not bad, Ina-kun… So you've gotten stronger after all these years…!'_

'_As expected from the Katami family's one-arm sword mastery… But this is definitely not your best effort yet is it, Tsu-chan…?'_

Inami pushes down his shinai onto Tsurugi's, slowly overwhelming her hold until he realizes something is off. As he forces his weapon upon hers, he notices her hand on the shinai's grip remains firm without any signs of struggling.

'_I knew it!'_

At the slightest notice of Tsurugi's arm about to give way, Inami pulls his shinai away as she pulls hers then whips it back onto him from above. With barely seconds of recovering his grip, Inami swings the shinai directly to his front and blocks her strike. The striking force instantly rattles down his shinai's bamboo slats, hand-guard and finally the grip where he could literally feel vibrations of her raw strength up to his fingertips.

'_He's fast! Or did he saw through that…?'_

Surprised that Inami is able to block her near-instantaneous whip swing strike, Tsurugi frowns lightly, focusing on his eyes to determine his next target point. Once again, he manages to gradually overpower her and slowly pushing her shinai away.

'_She's doing it again? No matter, I'll use this chance to—!'_

He eyes her left shoulder then pulls his shinai away and over his head, whipping his hands back onto her left opening. Instead of executing a similar whip swing, Tsurugi pulls her right arm back and spins right, bringing her shinai into a full back-hand swing towards Inami's incoming strike.

***TAK***

Not only does Tsurugi managed to block his strike, she uses the momentum from the spin to force his shinai back towards him, much to his shock. She grows a small smirk noticing his cringe.

'_Betting on the same trick to happen twice… Wrong move, Ina-kun.'_

Tsurugi shuffles a step towards Inami, pushing his weapon back with only an arm while he struggles to keep the shinai from leaning towards him. The students are awestruck by her still having enough strength to overwhelm her opponent despite the swift whip strikes which would have taken a great chunk of stamina from an average swordsman. Yet, Inami keeps up with his losing struggle against her overpowering strength, mustering every might to keep the shinai in his grip.

"_Onee-sama_ is winning…!"

Cheers from some of the students, while it certainly does not help Inami's plight, it pushes Tsurugi to keep forcing him back with seemingly undiminished stamina. Held back into defensive, Inami notices Tsurugi leaning ahead as she continues to overwhelm his stance and her feet are apart. With his shinai already beginning to lean towards him, Inami begins to think of giving way and succumb to her power in which then he realizes an oddity in her stance which leaves her lower body open.

'_Not yet she's not…'_

Inami pushes the grip up, deflecting Tsurugi's shinai over his head as he dashes under her outstretched right arm and turning his body left. Planting a foot ahead, he springs himself back towards her from the opposite side, swinging his shinai while she spins her body left, whipping her shinai back.

_*ksuu—*_

"_Erk_—!"

"_Tch_…!"

Seemingly petrified in deep shock, the two stands rooted to the ground, frozen in their end stances with their respective shinai held inches away from each other's _necks_.

Silence fills the room with Tsurugi's parents watching them from behind the students, awed by their impressive display of combat. The students suddenly applaud at the two, beaming wide smiles while ecstatically cheering at them.

"Awesome! _Onee-sama_, _Onii-san_, that was cool!"

Some of the students begin to clap as though they've just witnessed a performance. Reika and Kiyoshi walk around the students towards Inami and Tsurugi as they stand upright and holding their respective shinai down on their side.

"Outstanding performance, you two."

Kiyoshi stands between the two, putting his right hand on Tsurugi's shoulder and his left upon Inami's. Reika, who is standing at the side, narrows her eyes as she notices both of their faces are slowly turning red in apparent embarrassment.

* * *

**========== Strategic Defense Point No. 16, Alaska ==========**

What was once a tarmac with parked military vehicles is now filled with nothing more than smoldering scrap and pieces of trucks; burning tires, dented doors and sparkling shattered glass littering the tarmac along with columns of smoke rising from the infernal carnage.

Soldiers scramble to help the wounded to their feet while another attempts to use a damaged radio.

"Tower, come in! We have wounded on the tarmac and we need medical—!"

***GDAAASH***

The soldiers turn their heads towards the direction of the crash noise and see a flaming empty jeep violently flipping out from the side of a bunker. The jeep crashes into a cargo truck with tremendous force that the truck itself spiraled off its wheels and tumbles on its side onto the tarmac. As the truck falls aside, a soldier climbs onto a fifty-cal machinegun turret on top of another jeep and aims the gun at the IS.

"Go! I'll hold her off if she comes your way."

"And _you_?"

"I'll link up once everyone's safe, get going!"

The other soldiers make their exit, carrying the wounded on their backs as the Silver Gospel remains in the distance and looking around as if it's trying to find something of interest. As they retreat, a nearby punctured tanker explodes, instantly illuminating the entirety of the wrecked tarmac with blinding gold light which immediately robs the Gospel's attention towards the source of the explosion where it also sees the retreating soldiers.

Promptly recovering from concussion, the soldier on the turret looks up and gasps upon spotting the IS hovering towards the direction of him and his wounded, retreating comrades. He grabs hold of the machine gun's twin handles and places his thumbs above the trigger buttons on top of them.

"RUN!"

He lodges his thumbs onto the buttons.

***DADADADADADADADADA***

Relentlessly firing at the Silver Gospel, the soldier withstands the recoil of the machinegun turret and struggles to maintain his aim onto the IS who's putting up its arms in front of its face to block the shots. The Gospel pushes itself into the air and flies over the jeep where the soldier is. He frantically turns the turret around keep up with his target but the IS, being the one with superior speed and mobility, lands on the opposite side of the jeep then rams it, dragging the vehicle across the tarmac and into a side of a hangar.

***GRAASH***

"AUGH! Urgh…!"

The Gospel's powerful ramming inflicted a deep dent on the jeep's side and damages the machinegun turret's frame that it can't turn around. Heavily affected by the impact force, the dazed soldier falls out of the turret and onto the ground. As he struggles to get back up, the Silver Gospel walks up to him then firmly grabs his uniform's collar.

Still dazed from concussion, the soldier could barely make out blurred visions of the IS holding him above the ground with a hand at his collar. The IS raises its other hand and curls it into a fist, preparing to deliver the final blow on the bruised soldier.

"_Ergh_… Go ahead, _finish_ it."

_*Kshiin*_

A sharp hum emits from the Silver Gospel's helmet along with several bright-glowing lines on its front visor. The IS releases the soldier, dropping him to the ground while clutching both hands on its helmet as though it's in severe pain. Seemingly losing its balance, the IS steps back while clumsily turning to its sides with its hands holding firmly on its helmet. The soldier slowly gets back on his feet and tugs onto his left arm as a sharp painful sensation shoots up.

"_Tch_…! W-What the hell…?"

Apparently experiencing great pain, the Silver Gospel throws up its arms then slams both of its fists onto the hood of the wrecked jeep. Startled by the IS' sudden erratic behavior, the soldier steps back as it begins to punch repeatedly into the jeep's already dented side.

***GAANG* *GAANG***

He could only stare in horror as the Silver Gospel continues to bash the jeep out of shape while the hood drops off its hinges and the wheels break loose, rolling a short distance away before falling onto its side. The IS musters its strength and thrusts its fist into the mangled jeep one last time, punching a hole through its door. Another sharp hum emits from its helmet and the IS abruptly fall to its knees, clutching its helmet.

Thrown into further confusion, the soldier's curiosity gets the best of him and he begins to slowly approach the Silver Gospel. Little did he know that the glowing lines on the Gospel's helmet are turning red as though it's overwhelmed with rampaging tendencies while he carefully reaches out for the IS' right shoulder. The IS senses his approach and immediately swats his hand away, causing him to fall back down. The soldier clasps onto his right forearm and watches the Silver Gospel rising to its feet.

"Natasha…" was all that he could whisper as the IS blitzes into the sky and generates a dense shower of energy bits that began to rain upon the ruined tarmac.

'_I'm sorry, Matilda…'_

Submitting to his apparent fate, the soldier closes his eyes.

***BDADADADBDADADA* *BOOM***

The energy bits carpeted the entire tarmac, causing simultaneous explosions and annihilating even the fortified sheds where other vehicles are housed. As the area lies in ruin, the Silver Gospel faces east and bails out of the airspace.

* * *

**========== Oamishirasato, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

While her parents are busy training students in the Katami Dojo's main hall, Tsurugi is sitting at the edge of the wooden platform outside the hall with Inami at the back, gently massaging her shoulders with both hands. She sighs at every pressure his thumbs and knuckles apply along the back of her shoulders, around the joints and the base of her neck. Yet, despite the strains around her shoulders, her attention lies upon a fuzzy sensation on her neck, where Inami previously held his shinai at towards the end of their previous _demonstration-cum-duel_ session.

'_To think… his skills could match mine…'_

She brings up her left hand and lightly touches the side of her neck where she felt the sensation, recalling their previous duel.

'_That sword style… Did you learn that from Praxidike as well, Ina-kun?'_

Slowly turning her head left, she stares at him from the corner of her eyes, watching him as he remains focused on easing her shoulder muscles without a single hint of blush on his face. Yet, so much embarrassment fills her heart as she begins to feel it beating faster at every passing moment.

'_W-What is this feeling…? It's just a… a massage…'_

Inami pulls her shoulders while pressing his thumbs against their backs, stretching her upper chest apart which felt a little too good for her.

"_Aah—!_"

Too good that she unconsciously closes her eyes while letting out a pleasured sigh, realizing it soon after that she quickly puts her fingers on her lips, looking back to Inami.

"Tsu-chan—?"

"Y-You're misunderstanding…! I didn't mean it _that_ way! I-It just felt so… good."

"R-Right! Well… try not to make any strange noises again, okay?"

Tsurugi nods and Inami resumes massaging the back of her shoulders, deeply hoping that no one heard her, _especially_ her parents. He could only imagine what insurmountable wrath they would unleash at the slightest misunderstanding of hearing their daughter's suggestive sigh.

"So… Ina-kun, what is it that you would like to ask of me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, we did promise that whoever wins the duel gets a free request from the other."

"We did, yes… but our duel ended with a _draw_, didn't it?"

"Which means both of us gets to make a request from each other. Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine…"

"Um… Sure, I guess…"

* * *

**========== Strategic Defense Point No. 16, Alaska ==========**

"_Nnggh_…"

"_Sergeant…? Sergeant! Doctor, he's coming through!_"

'_Doc…tor…?'_

"_Sergeant Thomas, can you hear me?_"

"_Urh_…!"

The soldier is Master Sergeant _Willson Thomas_. The same soldier who previously manned the machine gun turret against the Silver Gospel now finds himself on a bed in the base's medical bay with bandages wrapped around his arms and across his chest. Vaguely recalling the moments where the IS rained energy bits upon the tarmac he was on, Willson looks around the infirmary, surprised at the fact that he's still alive after what he thought would've been a guaranteed death.

He turns to his side and sees his fellow soldiers with mixed worried, anxious expressions. Yet none of them stand out more than a young lady who appears to be in her early twenties, dressed in a plain non-camouflaged uniform colored in shades of grey with the nametag "Calling" sewn directly above the right chest pocket.

"Who are you…?"

"Lieutenant Iris Calling, pilot of the _Fang Quake_ Infinite Stratos unit, Sergeant."

Acknowledging her name, Willson nods with a respectful huff then looks to the others around her.

"Lieutenant was the one who rescued you, Sarge!"

"Yeah! The Gospel nearly killed you back there but she managed to put up a shield around you before the energy rain hit the tarmac."

"The tarmac's completely blended to shit but at least we're all safe thanks to you and Lt. Calling."

Willson sighs in relief. Despite the destruction that has been inflicted upon their base, he feels glad that none of his fellow comrades are as severely wounded as he is. Thinking through the previous chaotic moments, he then remembers the IS that laid waste upon the base.

"…Wait, the Silver Gospel! Where is she?"

The soldiers' rejoicing smiles immediately fade from their expressions as they look at each other. Mixed feelings stir the atmosphere with uncertainty and the wounded soldier could only wonder what everyone is thinking. Fearing the worst, he breaks the momentary silence.

"We didn't manage to recover it huh…?"

"It blew out of our radar range within seconds, Sergeant. We didn't even get the chance to mobilize. However… we were still able to momentarily track its movements via satellite before it deployed its optical camouflage."

"Where is it heading?"

"South-west. It was passing over the Pacific before we lost track of it. Hawaii also radioed in minutes ago saying that one of their patrol flights spotted the Silver Gospel. Judging from the bearings given, it's highly probable that the Gospel is heading for Japan."

"_Japan_? Isn't that where the Infinite Stratos Academy is?"

"That's right. With much reluctance, Command has already notified the Academy's authorities of the situation. Worse comes to worst, the Academy will have to take it down."

"I see…"

The thought of disgrace left his mind. Willson no longer cares that the military failed to retrieve the Silver Gospel and is more worried about the ones that will handle the matter, the IS Academy. He drops his head and clenches his fists on the bed with a cringe.

'_That unit is built with military equipment for multiple target suppressions and they're sending __**students**__ to take it down…?'_

* * *

**========== Infinite Stratos Academy ==========**

"Of all places…" Whispers Chifuyu.

The underground operations room is eerily silent with the lone instructor getting up from the seat of the operator console. She looks up to the main screen where it shows the world map along with a dotted trail which marks out the projected path of the Silver Gospel towards Japan from the Pacific Ocean. As much as she tries to fill her mind with optimistic thoughts that the rouge IS will simply fly past the country, she looks back to the console screen that's showing a message that was received.

'_Major collateral damage…huh? It's not like we don't already have unsolved mysteries at hand…'_

She sweeps the message off the motion-sensor screen and pulls up another item from the database's recent reports. The item opens up to reveal a set of descriptions, ones that point towards a record labeled as "_Unknown-01_" which Chifuyu briefly browses through.

'_Something does not add up. Even for a mechanical humanoid unit, there's no way a mere drone would have executed such elaborate interception maneuvers… There has to be some sort of human intelligence built into it.'_

Her hand swipes across the screen again which brings up records of findings from the Aegis troopers' previous on-site investigations, including witnesses accounts.

'_Human-like movements, seen heading southbound while clutching its right arm… Drones don't hold their own limbs for no apparent reason, let alone feel pain if I were to assume that's the reason as to why this unknown acted as such.'_

Though that is not her only concern as she hits the exit key on the screen, collapsing the record item "Unknown-01" then selects the next "Unknown-02". This record item however, has on-site pictures to go with the written investigation reports.

'_Mechanical joints, no room for a human pilot… core unit absent from the remains…?'_

She taps on the images which then enlarge into high-resolution pictures of the on-site remains of the Strike Jabber alongside the front half the Longboard that's planted nose-first into the ground. One of the pictures shows the Strike Jabber's charred chest-plate with a hole at the center.

'_So that's why…'_

Shaking her head lightly, Chifuyu collapses the record and switches back to the emergency message regarding the Silver Gospel's imminent approach.

'_No… We can't deal with them at this time. Retrieving this rogue IS is our top priority…'_

* * *

**========== Mount Nokogiri, Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Jinrai's typing on his laptop which has been plugged to one of the two fully-covered construction cages, marked with white "_KAI_" and "_A. SHROUD_" spray-texts respectively. The blue-hue screen displays a three-dimensional wireframe of a humanoid unit. Named as "_02-KAI_", the unit appears to be a streamlined, slightly feminine version of the Minerva along with a bigger, four-vernier thruster integrated into its back unlike the Minerva's dual-vernier version. While the unit's armaments are not displayed, it also appears to be void of any in-built weaponry, especially on its slim forelimbs.

_*tii—*_

The small, in-ear monaural headset next to the laptop beeps and Jinrai puts it over his right ear.

"I'm here."

"_-Jinrai, are the Type One and Type Two ready?-_"

"Of course, they've been sitting on alert status at the catapult deck since _yesterday_."

"_-That saves a whole pile of trouble. Apparently there's an IS heading for Japan…-_"

"…What about it? Given the status quo, that's like saying a bird just flew into the base's observation deck."

Without a strike of concern for the issue, Jinrai continues typing on the laptop while the screen highlights the arms and torso of the _02-KAI_ unit along with a few windows of streaming codes which Jinrai is able to swiftly decode mentally.

"_-A bird that left its nest in flames… is how I would put it.-_"

Jinrai abruptly pauses typing for a short moment, mentally registering what he just heard before resuming again.

"What are you saying?"

"_-Just minutes ago, the Hyperion satellite captured movement of a humanoid-shaped object entering the Pacific from the north-east. From Alaska it seems…-_"

"Alaska… The United States…?"

"_-Yes, but that's not the end of it… Thermal imaging detected a remote but wrecked military base situated at the south-west portion of Alaska.-_"

Jinrai's laptop screen projects another window at the corner of the screen, showing an increasing progress bar along with a numerical percentage counting past fifteen percent. The wireframe model of the "02-KAI" then splits into three sections; legs, body and head, with the legs being the lowest. While the body and leg sections are highlighted in red, the legs section is highlighted in reddish-orange to indicate construction progress.

At the same time, the construction cage labeled as "KAI" which his laptop is plugged into emits a soft hum as the unit's construction takes place inside the fully-covered construction cage.

"Where do you reckon it's heading to?"

"_-If I had to pick a choice, the Academy… Where else in Japan would there be other IS?-_"

"…Makes sense. But if it's still flying over the Pacific, it would take quite a while before it reaches Japanese airspace."

"_-You're right… But still, something doesn't feel right about this…-_"

"You're planning to send Inami to investigate?"

"_-We might have to at this rate… As risky as it sounds.-_"

The numerical percentage indicator for the "02-KAI" counts past seventeen percent as the progress bar steadily increases albeit at a very slow rate. Cupping his hand under his chin, Jinrai could not help but wonder about the Minerva if it were to be pitted against the incoming IS as he stares at the unit's wireframe model on the laptop screen.

'_It's much too risky… Obliterating a military base and outrunning its own forces, the Minerva wouldn't be able to handle such a powerful unit at its present state.'_

His eyes turn to the bigger construction cage that's marked with "_A. SHROUD_" on its front, narrowing his eyes at it.

'_It needs to be stronger.'_

* * *

**========== Oamishirasato, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

"You're not serious…"

"I _am_."

Inami recoils in horror at Tsurugi handing him a bottle of peach juice, the one flavor he has made every effort to avoid like a _plague_ throughout his entire life. Yet, there she is, the closest person he could ever have to a sister, offering him the very drink he dislikes the most. Standing just a mere few steps away from a convenience stall near the Katami Dojo, the two stands rooted with Tsurugi pointing the cap of the bottle towards his face.

"Drink it. _That_ is my request."

"That's more of a _**dare**_ than a sincere request!"

"Whatever, a promise is a _promise_! Be a man, why don't you?"

"Fine! Then _you_ will drink **this**!"

Out of ill will, Inami takes out a bottle of _blueberry_ juice and hands it to her. Like him previously, Tsurugi recoils in shock. She could not believe her eyes, _him_, the only person whom she cherishes dearly as a brother figure, voluntarily crosses the taboo territory and offers her to drink something as _stomach-wrenching_ as blueberry juice. Caught in a stand-off, the two could only stare at each other eye to eye, cringing at each other's requests as their arms tremble and their minds plunging into the abyss of extreme regret.

"V-Very well! I'll drink this… _thing_! But since I made the request _first_, you must drink the peach juice before me!"

"And give you the chance to rat out of the deal? No, _you_ drink the blueberry first **then** I'll drink… _that_!"

"How about _**together**_ then, we'll lock arms so no one gets to escape! Fair?"

The sheer magnitude of trembling and abrupt pauses from the two looked awkward to passer-by glancing at them while walking past. Twitching eyes, gritting teeth and crooked lips, the two come to realize that neither is willing to back out from the _request-turned-dare_, hesitantly wanting to best each other. Upon suggesting that they both should take a gulp together, Tsurugi eyes Inami who's beginning to show signs of abstaining from the deal, glancing anywhere around him _but_ her.

'_He's not going for it, right? I know he wouldn't dare to even put a drop of peach juice in his—'_

"All right, let's go for it together!"

Her shoulders jolt in fright at his answer. Chants of _'oh no'_ swarm her mind, ultimately realizing that he has resolved, albeit reluctantly, to accept her dare while she has yet to mentally-prepare herself for his. The two exchange the bottled drinks, uncapping them and putting their arms around each other's with the bottles in hand, looking at each other's eyes again before taking on their fateful gulp.

"I hate you…"

"Hate _yourself_ for starting this instead."

Despite her brewing annoyance, Tsurugi could only accept the cold truth, being the one who made the initial request to have him drink his most hated juice drink after all. The two exchanges frowning nods one more time then close their eyes as both of them takes a gulp from their respective bottles. Slowly, the two hold the bottles away from their mouths while their arms remain locked to each other, their faces turning blue as fast as silence fills between them.

"_Uuu…urrgh…_"

"_Kuuuh_…!"

The taste of peach slithers down Inami's throat like a slimy snake while blueberry juice prickles Tsurugi's like spiked beads as both of them quickly swallow their gulp.

"A-Are you done, Ina-kun…?"

"Just did… How are you feeling?"

"You _don't_ want to know…"

Releasing each other's arms, the two look at each other with pained expressions and switch back their bottled drinks with trembling hands. The taste eventually sinks down their throats as they both heave a sigh of relief, having attempted each other's dare.

"Let's not do that again, Tsu-chan…"

"I agree… I'm sorry."

"It's all right. Let's just drink up the rest on the way back."

Resuming their way back to the dojo, the two could still feel the uneasy sensations in their throats that they took a gulp of their proper drinks without a second thought.

"—**!**"

…Only to stop upon a sudden realization, with the two looking at each other and their faces quickly turning red.

"Ina-kun… Did we—?"

"I… I uh…"

And then immediately looking away to hide their blushed faces.

"A-Anyways, let's just finish up and head home!"

"Y-Yeah… Let's go."

* * *

**========== Hachijo Island, Izu Islands Cluster ==========**

Standing at the observation deck of the base and overlooking the town of Hachijo, Clause recalls his previous meet-up with Gerald at the mainland with his words clouding his mind.

'_A never-ending Cold War…huh?'_

Interrupted by a sudden beeping from the console, he shifts his thoughts aside and heads for the console at the side of the deck. He presses a glowing red button which projects another window on the deck's hologram screen that's showing the Focus Jabber in what appears to be a very spacious indoor firing range, carrying a long, slender sniper rifle as it takes aim for a few distant moving targets.

"_-Updating on the replicas, sir, we've currently completed fourth unit and it's now carrying out arms test in the Trial Chambers as you're seeing now.-_"

Closely resembling the _Blue Tears_ in almost every detail less a central human pilot, the Focus Jabber's colored primarily blue with a few black highlights on its joints and the edges of its armor. Despite the apparent IS-like bulk on its limbs, the Focus Jabber manages to keep its scope sights on every target it switches to. The replica drone squeezes the trigger at every target it points the rifle at, firing thick purple particle beams which easily eats through all the ranged targets, leaving only the charred moving frame that they were secured upon.

"_-Its reaction time is beyond that of a human's, let alone __**students'**__.-_"

"Where are units Two and Three?"

The screen shows another part of the Trial Chambers which has both the Draco Jabber and Stark Jabber inside a slightly different target range where the targets are eleven floating orb-shaped drones flying around freely while the two replica drones attempt to keep track of them.

The Draco Jabber deploys its massive orb-shaped shoulder cannons similar to that of the Shenlong's _Ryuho_ impact cannons and attempts to lead its sights ahead of a selected target. The Stark Jabber points its machine guns that are built into its forelimbs at its selected target drones, smoothly tracking the flying targets even when they attempt to dash out of sight. In an apparent synchronized initiation, the two replica drones began to unleash their weapons upon their respective targets that began to fly around erratically.

Huge, near-invisible projectiles of compressed space from the Draco Jabber's cannons instantly crumples and disintegrates the targets that comes into contact with it while solid, small-caliber bullets from the Stark Jabber rips through every target orb the replica drone manages to lock its sights upon.

"-_All built units are in optimal condition, sir. As for Unit—_-"

"Five. I heard there are some… _equipment_ issues."

"_-Y-Yes sir…! Unit Five is a highly-specialized unit so we had to take some liberties with the equipment mounted. The dual rocket boosters mounted on its back are modified and expanded such that the right side mounts the unit's rail-gun while the left holds the magazine belt for the weapon. Then there's this unique little gizmo on the schematic…-_"

The screen shows the schematic of the Schwarzer Regen, highlighting both its forearms.

"-_Active Inertia Canceller… or simply AIC, this equipment allows the unit to block both projectile and melee attacks by instantly negating the target's inertia, trapping it in place._-"

"Negating… inertia?"

"-_It means once the AIC is deployed, it will halt __**any**__ forms of frontal attack directed towards it no matter the velocity. We're about to send it to the Trial Chambers for testing._-"

"So it's already built as well…"

"_-Yes sir! We've also archived all new tech information gained from the construction of the R-Series so we can work on improving the Jabbers. We'll update you again once the R-Series are tested operational. Out.-_"

Clause grins wide and taps on a couple of keys on the console which projects another window next to the live feed, briefly flashing a bright red Greek Sigma icon before displaying a two-dimensional schematic of an unknown unit. At a glance, the schematic shows a bipedal unit which resembles the Jabber but taller and appears to sport additional armor on its chest and limbs.

'_This Cold War is about to get hot, Gerald…'_

* * *

**=== [End of Chapter 5] ===**


	6. Chapter 6 - Rising Replicas

**Infinite Stratos: Athena**

**Chapter 6: Rising Replicas**

* * *

**========== Nine years ago, Oviedo, Florida, United States ==========**

Unlike the atmosphere of a functional institute, the building, labeled with a giant "_**Hyperion Corp.**_" directly above its lobby entrance, is filled with eerie silence. The entire institute is practically barren safe a few misplaced documents with loose pages flapping through thin air at the slightest breeze. Amongst the seemingly abandoned complex, one particular room remains lighted, a huge oval room meant for board meetings where Gerald Bastion and his then-colleague Clause Ryan are seated across each other.

"Tell me, Gerald… What should I… What should _we_ do now?"

Gravely saddened by the apparent shutting down of the Hyperion organization, Clause brings his face down to his cupped hands with a heavy sigh.

"Artificial intelligence has always been your forte, Clause. Why not join up with the others as a project advisor? I'm sure they will appreciate it."

"_Join_ them…?"

Even a year after the debut of the Infinite Stratos unit _White Knight_, it is clearly apparent that Clause harbors contempt for the IS by questioning the suggestion with a rudely shocked tone. The former Hyperion engineer lifts up his head with a light frown, looking straight into Gerald's eyes with a cold, disapproving stare.

"Did you not notice how the White Knight came about? What kind of _equipment_ it was loaded with?"

Clause questions with a gentle but cold tone. There's no way Gerald would have kid or even attempt to pretend that he doesn't know; the White Knight came with weapons, weapons that decimated nearly seventy percent of the world's military assets in a single afternoon. Ever since that point of time, the revolutionary Infinite Stratos is known to the world as a game-changer, a show-stopping element that holds too much power.

"Clause, I watched the news that day."

"We want to develop an AI that will journey to the stars for research and development, not a _flying war fortress_. You know that as much as I do…"

"Still, we can't just let our efforts end here. We have to move on somehow… find another way to develop our work."

"It's easier said than done." Clause rubs his forehead as his mind remains puzzled and uncertain. Given the state of their organization, there's no clear solution to revive Hyperion and Clause has never been the one to sit well when he things don't work the way he intended them to. While merely a fellow engineer of Gerald, he has always held high the aims of his former organization and that he will do anything to break things his way to make it a reality.

Only this time, the Infinite Stratos system that's been receiving swift and priority development has completely robbed him of any apparent means to resume Hyperion's goal of developing the ideal space exploration AI. More than half of their workforce has defected from the organization and chose to steer towards developing an AI system for the IS while others, like Clause, held contempt for the one known person behind the IS, _Tabane Shinonono_.

"When the main department jumped ship, they brought with them a copy of the Jabber AI and claimed it as their own."

"Wait… _Copy_? You mean it's…"

Clause nods and pulls out what appears to be a palm-sized external hard-disk drive from the pocket of his vest.

"The _original_ Jabber AI is with me. However, the copy they took is practically identical so there's no possible way to tell them apart. Those idiots made a full copy and claimed it as Hyperion's original while also having the cheek to use it to so-called _assist_ the military to develop an AI-assistant program for one of their secret Infinite Stratos unit… Something called the Gospel or whatever."

"How could they… So if we try to develop this AI…"

"We'll be charged for infringement and they might even mark us as terrorists for infringing a military AI program, as far as "_official_" records go."

Gerald clenches his fists upon the realization as Clause sighs again, placing the digital storage device back into his vest pocket.

"If we're going to advance with our Jabber project, we'll have to erase the other copy which means we'll have to destroy this _Gospel_ thing that the military's developing. I can't bear to watch Hyperion's pride shattered and muddied."

"You're going to take up arms? Clause, you can't just—"

"I will do _whatever_ it takes to clear this blockade that's hindering the Jabber's development even if it means becoming the greater evil."

"Clause—!"

"There are those who wish for the same, Gerald. I'm just taking the initiative to lead them."

Confused by his colleague's resolution, Gerald shakes his head and his fists loosen. His mind is all but torn between tainting his hands to support Clause's goal to resume Hyperion's development plans, and staying out which will segregate him from any risks of violence that Clause is prepared to commit. However, choosing the latter would also mean that he'll abandon Hyperion and all that he's worked for in the organization.

"I will not force you to join me." Clause continues and gets up from his seat then walks towards the windows, looking out to the pitch-black sky of the night.

"You know my style, Gerald. I will only lead those that _choose_ to follow… If you do not wish to join, promise me that you will **never** resort to cowardice like those traitors who've succumbed to the military and committed themselves to the Infinite Stratos system."

* * *

**========== Present day, Mount Nokogiri, Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan ==========**

"_Rrnh_…"

Slowly opening his eyes to the ceiling light, Gerald gets up from his bed rubbing his forehead, his mind boggled from a dream.

'_Clause…'_

_*beep* *beep*_

Gerald grabs the beeping single earpiece from his bed-side table, shaking his head to refresh himself of any remnant memories of the dream he had then answers the call.

"It's me. What is it?"

"_-Gerald, we got unknown contacts approaching the mainland from the south!-_"

"The IS?"

"-_Nope, I'm counting __**five**__ of them… They're still a ways from Tateyama though…-_"

"Keep me posted, I'm heading over now!"

Meanwhile, Jinrai is in the operations room watching the main screen as it shows five blips approaching mainland Japan. He's cross-checked every possible radar signature, from aircrafts to even ships despite the obvious fact that the blips are moving at least twice the speed of a typical frigate. None of the signatures has matched any of the five unknowns.

'_Not even the signatures of the previous drones matched… What are they…?'_

He types on the touch-screen keyboard and switches the overhead map to satellite image feed then zooms in on the approaching objects. From the magnified live feed, he sees the unknowns as humanoid beings flying in a V-shaped formation, each of them sporting drastically different appearance from one another.

The leading unknown is white, with a mounted pair of wings and is also carrying what appears to be a grey broadsword. Trailing behind it are two more; a blue humanoid with a pair of wings, each shaped with two grey sections with pointed tips while another is colored dark orange with twin thrusters mounted on its back and a huge shield is mounted over its left arm.

The last two at the tail-ends of the formation consists of a purple-colored humanoid with two huge, orb-shaped objects on its shoulders and carries a double-bladed lance and a jet-black humanoid with a blocky object mounted on its right shoulder. The features on the five unknowns are completely unfamiliar to Jinrai safe for the leading unit which bears resemblance to the Byakushiki.

The door behind him slides open and Gerald enters while Jinrai's attention remains fixated to the screen.

"Where are they now, Jinrai?"

"About eighty clicks south of Minamiboso's southern coastline. They're cruising kinda slowly though… It's like one of them is holding the entire formation down."

Gerald brings up the previous drones' flight path onto the overhead map. Unlike the ones before, the approaching unknowns appears to stray off the sneak-in path and is spearheading straight for the mainland.

"Jinrai, get ready to send out the CSFP and the Type Two…"

* * *

**========== Tanaka, Togane, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

The Katami family has returned from the Katami Dojo after a whole week of classes and training. While her parents are at home, Tsurugi brings Inami around the central town area where there's a flea market with items being sold at discounted prices, some too good to be true. While the area is full of people briskly walking from stall to stall to find their goods, the two simply glance at the stalls as they pass through the market while holding onto bottled drinks.

"It's been a while since we walked here…"

"It has changed so much and yet somehow it looks the same."

Tsurugi reminisces the past when both of them walked around the flea market looking for snacks after they've cleaned up the house every weekend. Back then it has always been Inami who would be pulling her around to random stalls, admiring the game stalls, toys and most importantly, food. Now it's _her_ bringing him around, refreshing his mind and past memories.

"Ah, Katami-san!"

One of the stallholders who's selling _takoyaki_, or grilled octopus, call out to Tsurugi and waves at her as she turns to him.

"Jii-san!"

"Hey! How are things in the—" The stall owner abruptly pauses upon seeing Inami whom he has not seen for years but still somehow recognizes him. His mouth gapped with a soft gasp while Tsurugi still retains her cheery smile at the fact that he remembers him.

"A-Arisawa-kun?"

Inami nods then bows to the old stallholder and greets him.

"Long time no see."

Despite being absent for years, he still recognizes the elder stallholder as the stall happens to be one of the few where he frequently stops by when he was a child.

"Arisawa-kun! It's been so long! How have you been?"

"I've been well, thank you! I see business has been good to you, Jii-san."

"It has been all right. Had fun travelling around, eh?"

"T-Travelling? I wasn't really—"

Before Inami could reply to the stallholder's claim, Tsurugi interrupts by pulling on his sleeve and clearing her throat. He turns to her with a confused look where she simply shakes her head lightly, gesturing him to play along.

"'_Wasn't really_'…?"

"Well uh…! I mean it wasn't really travelling, more like training. Carrying stuffs around and all…"

"I can definitely _see_ that." The stallholder notices that not only has Inami grown but he's also physically fit, thinking he had just gone through a military training regime although he has absolutely no idea how right he is.

Amused by Inami's physique, the stallholder looks back to Tsurugi and catches sight of her face lightly blushing with her hand still pinching on his sleeve.

"All's good then. Now that you're here, Katami-chan will no longer feel lonely, _right_?"

Realizing that Tsurugi has been confiding her loneliness to the stallholder during his period of absence, Inami looks at Tsurugi with a narrowed, suspicious stare. While she tries to hold back her embarrassment, she turns away from the stallholder only to catch sight of Inami staring at her.

"I-Ina-kun, that's not what I meant! I mean, Jii-san…!" She flusters and releases his sleeve. As the stallholder laughs at her, Inami spots Cecilia amongst the crowd along with Ichika, Houki and their fellow Academy classmates wandering around in their prominent school uniforms.

'_Academy students? What are they doing here…?'_

"Oh-ho! Watch it, looks like an ISA student just caught his attention~!"

"What…?"

Tsurugi immediately turns to Inami as he resumes staring at the students, completely unaware that his childhood friend just summoned a demon's fury at the sight of him suspiciously staring at a girl about two years younger than him. While Inami is simply glancing at them because they are students of the Infinite Stratos Academy which the previous drone attacks has been centered upon, Tsurugi wasn't exactly pleased thinking that he might be into younger girls instead of her.

"Hey… Inami…"

"Hmm—?" Inami turns around just as Tsurugi pinches his ear hard. "**OWW!**" instantly shoots out of his mouth but she refuses to let go, being more jealous than enraged that someone else is able to rob his attention from her completely, let alone not realizing that she caught him staring at the blonde cadet for _more than five seconds_.

"You got the hots for an Academy student now?"

"I wasn't… Wait, how do _you_ know she's from the Academy?" He holds her hand that's pinching his ear while Tsurugi, not having a clue to answer his question, turns to the stallholder who's apparently enjoying their antics.

"Ah, Academy students rarely drop by here… Judging from her looks and posture, I wouldn't be a surprised if she turns out to be a _Representative _from a foreign nation."

"Representative—**OWW!**"

Tsurugi pulls Inami by his ear closer to her face, thinking that he's into girls with very high standards as well.

"You're a _perfectionist_ now too?"

"I am **NOT**! Now get your hand off my ear!"

Heedless of his request, Tsurugi turns to the stallholder with a broken smile.

"We'll be on our way now, Jii-san. See you around!"

"Have fun, you two!"

* * *

Elsewhere away from the flea market, Maya remains in a bus with Chifuyu who's apparently trying to keep her annoyance in check given the absence of her students as she looks at her wristwatch. Maya looks around the petrol station that they've stopped at to refuel their shuttle bus.

"Where are those guys…? It's almost time to leave."

"Well, there's still _ten_ minutes…"

"That was just estimation, Maya. We'll have more time to plan the interception if we get there earlier."

"I suppose so…"

Maya then turns back towards the farms spanning over acres of land where the flea market can be seen directly across the farms amongst a small number of houses and shops.

* * *

After repeated fruitless attempts to free his ear from her pinching, the Inami and Tsurugi eventually enter an alleyway where she releases his ear and immediately looks away in mild contempt while he gently touches his ear.

"What's with you, Tsurugi? Goodness, I was just—"

"Staring at a girl who's way younger than you?"

"Well sorry if I looked like a pedophile back there, they just look… well… I don't know."

"It's not that…" Tsurugi sinks her head lightly, realizing that he misunderstood her concerns while she was actually just peeved at him not paying attention to her. Inami on the other hand, is confused upon being told that his concern is not the issue. Thinking that she's concerned about him being a perfectionist given the stallholder's previous observation, he looks back at her.

"Um… if it's about having high standards… I wasn't really—"

"That's not it either."

Both of his concerns crossed out, he could only take wild guesses as to what Tsurugi is trying to relay. Even though he manages to subdue chaotic thoughts in his mind, Inami still could not figure out her real concern as she's keeping silent while still refusing to face him with her arms folded.

"I'm sorry, Tsu-chan. I just—"

"Don't…" She interrupts him again, this time slowly turning to him until their eyes meet, prompting him to remain silent and hear her out.

"I should be the one apologizing, Ina-kun…"

Inami remembers the takoyaki stallholder mentioning about Tsurugi feeling lonely, realizing that she might've confided to him about his absence. Not willing to assume things which might induce unnecessary anger, he decides to ask even though the question might turn out rhetorical.

"Tsu-chan, did you tell Jii-san about it as well?"

"Yes." She nods and backs away from him while keeping her head low with her fringe blocking his view of her face. Tsurugi could not bear to look at him in the eyes, thinking that he's angry about her confiding to other people aside from her own family about her personal problems.

"I'm a useless person, aren't I? Whiny and all, can't even keep personal matters to myself—"

A sudden gasp leaves her mouth.

That was all that halted Tsurugi from finishing her sentence when Inami immediately puts his arms around, holding her close to him with her head over his shoulder. Inami has acknowledged her loneliness and it has always been his intention to stay with her as much as he could to keep her company; something that he's been mentally regretting for neglecting to do so due his period of absence while being part of Praxidike.

"I… Ina-kun…?"

"Idiot…"

"—!"

"Don't you call yourself useless, Tsu-chan. You're a very precious person to me!"

Tsurugi could not believe her ears. Never would it strike that Inami would have such an impression of her, something that she never expected yet she's been yearning to hear. While she's easily moved, it's no doubt to her that he's completely honest with what he just said.

"_You_ are the closest person I have to a family, one who's willing to accept me for who I am despite my bad points… I can never have another girl who's willing to spend her time with me anymore than you do."

She realizes that Inami cherishes her as much as she does for him, even more so when she remembers that he's an orphan, not having any immediate family to return to which makes his words even sadder than he would've intended.

"That's why… You are not useless. Sure, you can be whiny at times… But if that's who you are, I'll accept it anyways."

Tears trickle down her cheeks as she embraces him, her affection for him growing by tenfold as he whispers into her ear. His words almost made her choke on her tears. She grows a vibrant smile on her face and holds him even tighter.

"Dummy… You could've said those earlier."

"Sorry, had to wait for the right time."

_*tii—!*_

"…?"

The two part their bodies from each other and Inami reaches for the beeping earpiece in right pocket of his pants, putting it over his ear.

"Inami here."

"_-Arisawa, we got a situation cropping up. I'm afraid we'll have to cut your vacation short for this one…-_"

"What's going on, Bastion-san?"

"_-I'll fill you in on the go. Get suit up ASAP, we're sending the CSFP to you along with another special package from Jinrai.-_"

"Another one—?"

Inami notices Tsurugi looking at him with a disappointed expression.

"_-You'll see. Get going, we don't have much time, Arisawa.-_"

"Copy that. Out."

He heaves a sight upon ending the call, confirming her worries as she holds his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Tsu-chan… I have to—"

She puts a finger on his lips and smiles at him.

"Let's go."

* * *

Meanwhile, the Academy students roam around the market admiring the wide array of snacks being sold as almost all of them are not available in their own Academy cafeteria. Lingyin and Houki are stopping by a stall that's selling _okonomiyaki_, or Japanese pizza, while Cecilia is at a cotton candy stall staring at the various colors of cotton candy on sale. Not far off are Ichika, Charlotte and Laura trying out a dart range game stall.

"This feels nostalgic…"

Laura steps up with three plastic-tipped darts at hand while Charlotte and Ichika watched with anticipation. Coincidentally, the eye-patch she wears does not cover her master eye and years of military training has sharpened her sense of aim. The stall owner simply stood back and watches, amused by how confident Laura is.

_*shiuu—* *tok*_

With a precise swing, she throws the dart and it instantly hits the dartboard's bulls-eye. The stallholder is jaw-dropped stunned at her display of accuracy as well as Ichika and Charlotte, despite being classmates back at the Academy.

"That's impressive, Laura!"

"Thank you. I figure it'll help me a lot when it comes to persuading people in the future."

"P-Persuading…?" Ichika immediately loses his bright smile upon seeing her sinister smirk. It does not help the fact that he has been marked by Laura to be her "wife" which gives him a clear vision on who she's intending to _persuade_ specifically.

'_Guess I shouldn't ask…'_

He holds back on his question and she proceeds to throw her remaining two darts. Houki and Lingyin approaches the game stall while holding onto a bottled drink each, surprised by Laura's score on the dartboard while Cecilia is still wandering around nibbling on a small packet of cotton candy.

As she goes about looking at the stalls, she steps into the path of Inami who's rushing out of the flea market with Tsurugi who's not far behind.

"Watch it!"

"—**!**"

Inami sidesteps from his path and barely avoids Cecilia who nearly dropped her cotton candy out of shock, turning to him with an annoyed look.

"Watch where you're going, will you?"

"Sorry, miss. I'm in a hurry—"

"Ina-kun!"

Tsurugi immediately grabs his right arm and snatches him away, leaving Cecilia startled and confused.

"…Dummies."

* * *

Soon after, Inami, who's already dressed in his pilot bodysuit, is already making his way out of the house with Tsurugi tagging along while beginning to run through various scenarios in her mind as to what forms of threat could possibly unfold upon learning from Inami whom willingly trusts her to not share the classified information of the Minerva with anyone else. Racing towards a bush-filled area jutting out into the lake behind the house where Inami easily navigates through a complicated maze of tall grasses and trees while holding firmly onto Tsurugi's hand.

"Here it is… the Minerva."

Standing right before them is the Mounting Platform which was previously delivered via the CSFP platform flight unit. The cylindrical contraption deactivates its adaptive camouflage barrier, revealing its actual hull that's colored in dark shades of charcoal-grey.

"This canister thing…?"

"No, wait for it."

As Inami steps towards the Mounting Platform, its midsection splits apart to reveal a precise arrangement of the Minerva's armor pieces that's held up by smaller sub-arms within the halves of the midsection.

"Wow…"

Tsurugi's mouth remains gapped in awe, watching as Inami steps into the armored boots at the base of the midsection. Parts of the boots clamp onto his feet while a holographic scanning grid sweeps across his body from the top-down where the sub-arms swiftly move to mount various parts of the powered armor onto his bodysuit. Each part mounted after another in fluid, rapid succession and before she realizes it, he has already stepped off the platform with the Minerva armor fully mounted.

While the hologram screen inside the Minerva's helmet displays the various system checks of the powered armor, Inami's sights are fixated upon Tsurugi who's stepping towards him then gently touches the chest-plate. She looks into the reflective helmet visor as it briefly flash eye patterns, knowing that he's looking at her despite not being able to see his face.

"Be careful."

"I will. I'll come back once I'm done, all right?"

"Come back to _me_, you hear?"

"Loud and clear."

* * *

Back at the petrol station, the Academy students are already on-board the shuttle bus while Ichika is just about to step on with Chifuyu frowning at him from behind.

"You really need to do some time management training, all of you."

Ichika turns to his sister-cum-instructor, looking at her with half-shut eyes.

"Come on, Chifuyu-nee… It's not like we're—"

"That's _**Orimura-sensei**_ to you! Now get on before I—!"

_*trrt-trrt*_

Letting out an irritated grunt, Chifuyu pulls out the vibrating phone from the pocket of her blouse and answers the call.

"_What_ is it?"

"_-Sensei, you might want to watch the skies…-_"

"What? Why?"

"_-Well… Another flying platform just cruised across our airspace and it's now circling towards Togane. It's a different kind of flying platform this time, judging from Aegis' observations.-_"

"Another…?"

During that instance, Ichika spots a silhouette of the CSFP flying overhead towards south-west. It's flying at such a low altitude that he could almost make out a long sword handle jutting out the back of the flight platform while the noise of its particle jets snatches Chifuyu's attention towards it.

"I see it."

"_-It's not posing any threat to us yet but Aegis is currently keeping an eye on it. We're also reading five different unknown signatures off the southern tip of Chiba Prefecture but they're not heading your way…-_"

"More unknowns… At _this_ time…?"

"_-I'm putting Aegis on high alert. These unknowns do appear to be heading straight for us… Whatever the case, Sensei, we'll—-_"

Chifuyu, along with Ichika and the other Academy students who are in the shuttle bus watches as the Minerva launches into the air, landing right on top of the flight platform as it flies below.

"_-__**Now**__ we're reading Unknown One's signature in Togane. It's directly south-west of your position, Sensei.-_"

"Is it heading for the five other unknowns that are coming your way?"

"_-It's—hmm… Yeah, it's seems to be assuming an interception route towards the formation from what I see on the radar…-_"

It is then clear to Chifuyu as to what's about to unfold, recalling the past reports of the previous interception by the Minerva against the Jabber drone as she watches both the Minerva and the CSFP fly towards the horizon.

"Murakumo, get the Aegis to keep an eye on the approaching formation. I have a feeling that Unknown One's onto it again…"

"_-I'll do what's necessary, Sensei. You need to get going as well, that rogue IS will be reaching Japanese airspace very soon.-_"

* * *

**========== Minamiboso, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Residents in a southern seaside town resume their lives without any notice for a distant formation of five silhouettes approaching the coast until a few people around the _Nojimazaki_ Lighthouse catches sight of the oncoming.

"_Whoa, hey… what's that?_"

"_Mama, I see planes!_"

"_They can't be planes. Those shapes look more like…_"

"_Humans… IS?_"

The formation, revealing themselves to be Hyperion Styx's Replica Jabbers, cruise past the lighthouse and over the city, blatantly ignoring the awestruck people below as they soon come to realize the apparent nature of the IS-like units. While sporting near-humanlike features from afar, the drones' mechanical joints appearance becomes more jarring even to the naked eye upon close-up.

"_They're… robots?_"

Despite the awe, the town residents barely showed any signs of fear as the Replica Jabbers cruise through the skies with their sights set dead ahead towards the distant Tokyo Bay. Even the drones' prominent features copied from genuine IS did not spark any sort of familiarity with the people, some simply snapping photos of the formation.

* * *

**========== Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Passing over the clouds in Kisarazu's airspace, Inami rides the Type One CSFP with the Type Two buster sword in hand, looking over to his right side where six grey IS are floating around the Academy's skies with their weapons drawn. He zooms in the view of his visors to a couple of the IS, which turn out to be the Aegis security troopers looking straight at him.

"Geez… Why do they keep staring at me like that…?" mumbles Inami under his breath as a warning tone alerts him to his course.

"_-Enemy formation's dead ahead, Inami.-_"

Through the clouds, he could barely make out silhouettes of the approaching Replica Jabbers below the cloud layer.

"I see them—wait…"

Noticing the obvious differences in armor designs and armaments amongst the drones, Inami magnifies the view and examines each of the Replica Jabbers.

"Jinrai-san, what am I seeing here?"

"_-Beats me, hotshot. Not even Gerald knows what's up with the specialized designs. In any case, don't hold back… use the CSFP's secondary function.-_"

* * *

The Replica Jabbers increase their speed, slowly ascending towards the cloud layer where they get a clear view of the Infinite Stratos Academy. The drones suddenly change their formation, the others spread out allowing the Nacht Jabber to take the lead, pointing its Railgun at the school. The weapon hums loud at every surge of electricity being conducted within its barrel, sparks crawl around the weapon and onto the drone's right arm, its targeting reticule slowly inching towards the tower at the middle of the Academy.

_***kzzt-tzzt-zzzt***__ *tii-tiiit—*_

Focus Jabber snaps to its right, pointing its sniper rifle towards the clouds and squeezes the trigger.

***BYUSH***

A thick blue particle beam shoots into the clouds leaving a spiraling trail of dissipating particles. Within that same instance, a barrage of smaller, blue particle beams rain from the clouds towards the Replica Jabbers' formation, forcing the others to break away and the Nacht Jabber turning the charged-up Railgun at the clouds where it spots a faint shadow.

***BOOF***

Spearheading through thin air, the solid projectile from the Railgun leaves a trail of sparkling electricity and enters the clouds where the faint shadow disappears. Light flashes from within the clouds along with a few streaks of electricity followed shortly by another shadow that shrinks and turns darker.

"Engaging enemy formation."

_***brrii-rii-rii-rii-rii-rii-rii-rii-rii—***_

Inami pushes out of the clouds with the CSFP now mounted onto the Minerva's back in the form of a winged flight backpack, firing all four gun muzzles on the backpack that are positioned above both his shoulders while grabbing the buster sword's grip with both hands.

The Nacht Jabber flies away to dodge his heavy swing while the Draco Jabber circles around him, firing projectiles of compressed space from its massive shoulder orb-shaped cannons and the Stark Jabber whipping out Vent-like rifles on both hands, firing both weapons simultaneously. He dashes out of their line of fire with even greater speed due to the additional thrusters on the CSFP.

Passing towards his front, the Glint Jabber swings its own Yukihara replica only to be promptly parried by his massive buster sword.

"These units are way too customized for just specialized units…! It's something else—"

A beeping warning tone alerts him to multiple projectiles from behind and he ascends, dodging a barrage of dense yet slim blue particle beams. He turns to his back and sees the Focus Jabber's four wing bits moving to his flanks.

_***brrii-rii-rii-rii-rii—***_

His particle fire from the CSFP's shoulder particle gun muzzles manages to briefly disperse the wing bits from flanking, allowing him to boost out towards the Draco Jabber which has been powering up its shoulder cannons.

***CLANG***

The drone parries his buster sword with its double-bladed scimitar lance, aiming its cannon muzzles directly towards him and fires them point-blank.

***BDOOM***

Inami spirals out of control towards the ground, firing the CSFP's boosters which slow down his falling speed as well as recovering his balance. Glancing at the silhouette status indicator on his hologram visor screen, he sees the particle barrier strength indicator barely changed from its green color status. The Replica Jabbers hover ahead with their respective weapons aimed towards him.

"_Tch_… These aren't just any specialized units…"

Briefly examining each of the drones, he notices all five units sharing a common feature of bulging limbs similar to the Golem he once encountered.

"…They look a lot like an IS."

* * *

**=== [End of Chapter 6] ===**


	7. Chapter 7 - Unknown One

**Infinite Stratos: Athena**

**Chapter 7: Unknown One**

* * *

**========== Infinite Stratos Academy ==========**

"It started…"

Six blips flying around Kisarazu's airspace in what seemed to be a vicious aerial dogfight. Kaori could only make do with what's being projected on the underground operations room's main hologram screen along with the other six friendly Aegis security troopers surrounding the Academy's airspace.

"_-What are those?-_"

"_-The silhouettes don't look like anything we've encountered before…-_"

"_-New enemy units, huh?-_"

Kaori grits her teeth at the leading trooper's remarks. Upon running a cross-reference to past unknown signatures, _none_ has matched any of the five blips that are currently engaging against a lone white blip labeled as "_**U-1**_" on the overview map.

"Talk to me, Aegis. What are you guys seeing out there?"

"_-Can't tell for sure, Sensei. I'll try and close in, see what we might be going up against.-_"

"Watch yourself."

High above the skies, one of the security troopers advances from her position towards Kisarazu where the battle is, holding her Vent rifle on her hip. The battle is still a ways from even nearing the Academy's territorial airspace yet the trooper closes in towards mainland where she eventually makes out the prominent features on each of the replica drones: White wings with yellow fins, the blue wing-shaped drones, orb-shaped shoulder cannons, huge aerodynamic shield with a partially-concealed revolving pilebunker underneath, the massive shoulder railgun.

"No way…! That equipment…"

It was way too obvious of features to Academy personnel, let alone a security trooper who's familiar with most, if not all IS used by Academy students.

"_-What is it, Aegis?-_"

"_-Leader…? What do you see?-_"

The trooper slowly retreats towards the Academy, staring at the Replica Jabbers in disbelief as they fire simultaneously upon the Minerva.

"_-…Leader?-_"

"Those are the same weapons used by Academy students' Personal IS… Even the armor designs are almost identical, like a replica."

"_-Replica…? Are you serious?-_"

* * *

**========== Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

***CLAANG***

Inami clashes against the Glint Jabber, their swords causing sparks as their edges grind against each other's. Pushing the drone away, he flies a loop dodging more beams from the Focus Jabber's wing bits while also using the broad side of the buster sword as a shield, blocking projectile shots from the Stark Jabber while the distant Nacht Jabber trails him with its railgun's targeting crosshairs to get a lock.

The alert tones beep repeatedly to warn him of the drone's tracking attempt while the Draco Jabber hacks against the buster sword as he swings it around to land a strike on it, leaving him with little chance to deal with the grounded Nacht Jabber pointing its weapon straight up towards him wherever he flies. Every attempt to attack any of the replica drones gets hindered by the others which forces him to defensive, dodging endless barrage of projectiles both solid and particle beam alike.

'_This is going nowhere…!'_ Inami mentally chastises the situation. While his maneuvers and pressing attacks manages to keep the drones from entering Academy airspace, he knows it is only a matter of time until he wears out and the drones, not suffering from human physical fatigue, will overwhelm him.

The Draco Jabber kicks him away, creating an opening for the Nacht Jabber.

***BOOF***

Speeding towards Inami at high speeds, the solid projectile from the drone's Railgun leaves a spiral contrail in its path and strikes his left shoulder plate. The projectile shatters upon impact but the force of its momentum was enough to send him spinning left.

"Kuuuh—!"

The impact left a shallow blast mark on the armor and a minor strain on his left shoulder joint despite the bodysuit's shock-absorbing properties. He deploys the particle barrier, blocking another omni-directional barrage from the Focus and Stark Jabbers. Holding its scimitar lance on its hip, the Draco Jabber moves in for the kill.

Inami turns to the warning sensors' directional arrows, raising the buster sword in reverse grip towards the approaching drone and using the broad side of the blade to deflect its vicious lunge. The scimitar lance grinds across the buster sword's side with a sharp high-pitched noise, leaving itself open as he quickly reaches for the beam saber on the left side of his waist.

_***zyuunn—***_

He pulls out the beam saber and swings up the Draco Jabber's right armpit, severing off its entire right arm.

'_That's it…!'_

The drone retreats a distance, frantically firing its shoulder cannons with erratic accuracy while the Glint Jabber swoops past with its sword held above its right shoulder. Clashing their massive swords against each other's, Inami ignites the buster sword's thrusters, pushing the drone's sword back as it strains both hands against the force of the buster sword's thrust. The drone deflects the buster sword to the side, delivering a swift kick against his right arm then spins its body around its waist, hitting the bottom its sword's grip against his backpack.

Inami could only cringe as he soon realizes that the Replica Jabbers are clearly void of any human limitations and any of them could potentially execute more unexpected maneuvers against him, bringing him to remember one of Gerald's previous advices.

'_That's right… I can't stay defensive, they'll just keep hitting until they got me beat.'_

* * *

**========== Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture ==========**

Heading off to intercept the Silver Gospel that's approaching the sea off Kashima's coastline, Ichika and Houki in their respective IS, Byakushiki and Akatsubaki, tears through the ocean airspace at supersonic speed. The latter smiles merrily not only for being given the most advanced and fastest IS in existence but also for having the chance to have Ichika exclusively tag alongside her.

The duo clears the clouds and sees the ocean that stretches far into the horizon with a distant silver-white silhouette approaching them. It's the Silver Gospel, barely wavered by its long, painstaking flight over the Pacific and stays true to its flight path. Seemingly heedless of the Byakushiki and Akatsubaki's presences, the IS hardly flinches and instead begins to accelerate, attempting to blow past the Houki and Ichika.

"Here it comes! Ichika!"

"Got it!"

Houki keeps to her bearings while Ichika, who's mounting on the back of her IS, gets up with the Yukihara Nigata's blue beam saber deployed. His feet planted firm on the Akatsubaki's back and his weapon held up in front of his right shoulder.

The Silver Gospel breaks to the right then ascends straight towards the sky with the two trying to catch up with it.

"Keep pushing ahead, Houki!"

The two closes the gap between them and the Gospel and Ichika holds up his sword, preparing to strike.

"HYAAH—!"

He swings the energy sword down hard but the Silver Gospel strafes away trying to maintain a huge gap between itself and the two.

"It dodged…?"

Once more, Houki spearheads towards the enemy IS with Ichika going for a second strike only to be met with a spray of homing energy bits fired from its wings, forcing both of them to split up and dodge the barrage. While she manages to outrun the bits thanks to the Akatsubaki's superior speed, he deflects them with the Yukihara and two immediately resume pursuit of the Silver Gospel.

"We'll attack it from both sides, let's go!"

"Got it!"

More barrages are fired from the Silver Gospel, forcing both of them to dodge the energy bits which hinder their pursuit.

"I'll hold it in place! Attack when I give the signal!"

Ichika stays back, watching as a pair of remote winged objects detaches from the back of her IS and rams into the Silver Gospel, knocking it around while she exploits the chance to close in and hacks both katana upon the IS. It blocks both strikes but she presses on to keep it immobile and turns to Ichika.

"Attack, Ichika!"

"Right!"

He rushes for the vulnerable Silver Gospel, holding the Yukihara across his side preparing to lunge. As he clears the cloud, something else snatches his attention; water trails from a distant fishing trawler which surprised him as he thought the area would have been closed off due to the Silver Gospel's threat. Instead of attacking the enemy IS, he blows past both it and Houki, who's rudely surprised at his sudden change of mind.

"Ichika—?"

The Silver Gospel pushes both her katana away and kicks her off, firing more energy bits towards her as she flies around to avoid. Unbeknownst to her, she's drawing fire from the Silver Gospel towards the fishing trawler where Ichika dashes into the energy bits' line of fire and deflects the bits with the Yukihara Niigata. His selfless act is seen by Houki as a disappointment seeing as she almost had the Silver Gospel's back turned to him so that he could strike.

"Ichika, what are you doing? We almost had it!"

"There's a ship over there!"

"What…?"

She turns to the fishing trawler, magnifying her view to get a clearer picture of it. However, her anger grows even more when a scan of the ship turns up no records, indicating it as an illegal vessel.

"That's an illegal trawler—!"

The two gets interrupted by another barrage from the Silver Gospel. While Houki moves to dodge, Ichika remained to deflect projectiles from the trawler while some manages to get past, hitting the ocean and barely missing the lone escaping vessel.

"Those are criminals! Ignore them!"

"They might die! I can't let that happen!"

* * *

**========== Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

***GDAASH***

"Ergh…!"

With his left leg caught by the Nacht Jabber's wired anchors, Inami struggles to get back up only to have the Stark, Focus and Draco Jabbers raining hell upon him with their weapons. He deploys the Minerva's particle barrier to shield himself until the Nacht Jabber pulls him around and slams him into the side of a hill.

***GDAASH***

"Kuuuh—!"

Inami pushes himself off the hillside and grabs hold of the buster sword planted into the ground next to him. The drone pulls the wired anchors, dragging him out of the hillside across the ground while generating beam blades from its forearms.

'_I'll lose at this rate…!'_

He waits until he gets pulled in close enough then ignites the particle thrusters on his backpack and the buster sword's simultaneously, sending him flying straight for the Nacht Jabber as it gets caught off-guard by the buster sword swinging down upon it. The drone lunges its right arm's beam blade towards him but the buster sword's broad side blocks the strike as the massive blade cleaves apart its right arm and thruster pod from its main body.

Inami grabs hold of its left arm as it attempts to lunge the beam blade towards him, releases the buster sword from his grip and curls his left hand into a firm fist.

***CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG***

"WOOAAAAA—!"

He thrusts three punches into the Nacht Jabber's right cheek, growing a wide smirk of satisfaction as he throws a fourth directly into its face.

***CLANG***

Upon impact, his armor-padded fist dents the drone's face in, shattering its clear eye-like visors and damaging its optical cameras which blurs its sight with static. The punches also disrupt the drone's targeting systems, causing its wired anchors to loosen themselves from his leg. He kicks the Nacht Jabber away and pulls out a beam saber, rushing towards the drone to deal the finishing blow while it raises its left arm and deploys the energy-like Active Inertial Canceller field which instantly stops him in his tracks.

"W-What the…?"

Warning prompts flash all around the helmet's hologram screen along with beeping tones as Inami remains frozen from top to bottom, as though he's petrified. Even though he could still speak, he could not move or turn his head.

"What is this… weapon…?"

Moving his eyes around the screen, he fires the CSFP's particle guns at the Nacht Jabber's hand but even the particle shots are stopped by the field. He grits his teeth as he watches the particle shots dissipate in mid-air.

"Darn… Even particle weapons are useless. What else can I—?"

He pauses, realizing that he could still speak and move his eyes despite the rest of his body being practically frozen. Deducing that the AIC field would only affect objects that are outright exposed to it like his body and the particle shots he fired. He looks to the power level indicator; _six hundred_ power units out of the total _seven hundred_ and the power level bar is still within the green zone.

The other replica drones encircle him, yet none attempting to attack.

'_Worth a try.'_

The powered armor hums loud, expelling immense amount of particles to form a barrier only to be stopped before they could form a full spherical barrier. Instead, the expelled particles incidentally forms a compact particle silhouette until encases the frontal part of his body like a shell. His limbs gradually begin to feel unrestricted down to his fingers while the Minerva's power levels rapidly decreases into the yellow zone and the numerical indicator rapidly decreasing below _five hundred_ power units.

A full frontal shell of compact particles are formed, allowing Inami to escape the AIC's effect and retreats while picking up the buster sword that he dropped.

"Hah!"

The Nacht Jabber shuts off its AIC field and the particle shell of the Minerva slowly dissipates. With its primary ranged weapon lost with its right arm, the drone fires its wired anchors. He steps aside dodging the anchors then grabs all four wires, severing them apart with a quick whip of his beam saber and stores it back to its waist-side sheath. He throws the severed anchors aside, picks up the buster sword and boosts away, evading fire from the Focus Jabber's wing bits.

* * *

**========== Hachijo Island, Izu Islands Cluster ==========**

Clause watches, on the hologram screen of his base's observation deck an overview satellite feed of the battle between Inami and the Replica Jabbers with statuses of each drone displayed in separate windows on the screen. All except the Draco and Nacht Jabber are shown to be in green and functioning while the two drones have their right arms colored blood red, indicating total damage or dismemberment.

'_Who is this guy…?'_

_*tiit-tii—*_

The status display for the Focus Jabber shows two of its wing bits turning red, indicating destruction, and its left arm gradually turns yellow.

'_He's knocking out the drones one by one… At this rate, we won't have enough firepower to attack the Academy—'_

He slams his palm on the console and immediately calls up his personnel.

"_-Sir?-_"

"Call them back, now."

"_-But sir, if we pull back now, the Academy will—-_"

"It won't matter! They're far too damaged to even get past the Academy's defenses anyway, bring them back."

* * *

**========== Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

The Stark Jabber jumps away, dodging the buster sword as it stabs the ground where it jumped from. The drone fires both its rifles and forearm machineguns but Inami deploys a barrier, vaporizing all its bullets as they hit the particle barrier while the Glint Jabber dives upon him, swinging its pseudo-Yukihara unto the top of his head.

_***bzyuun~***_

He turns, pulling the beam saber from the left waist sheath and the blue particle blade deploys just in time to block the massive, fang-shaped blade. Despite the close-shave, the Glint Jabber's raw strength with both hands on its weapon's grip quickly overpowers his one-hand hold on the beam saber and begins to push the searing blade back towards him. It was not even a contest of strength with the drone's inhuman physical strength forcing him to hold the saber grip with both hands all while he gets pushed back towards the ground.

***BDOOF***

"D'AAA—!"

Impact projectiles from the Draco Jabber hits his left side, breaking his parry against the Glint Jabber and sending him crashing into the ground.

"_Tch_… It's not over yet…!"

A full boost from the CSFP backpack quickly pushes him out of the dirt, sending him rocketing straight for the buster sword as thick laser beams from the overhead Focus Jabber barely misses him, pummeling the ground at his sides kicking up dense clouds of dirt following his path. The Glint Jabber pursues him, holding the imitation Yukihara sword at its side preparing to stab. Reaching his right hand out, Inami grabs the buster sword's handle then clamps his other onto it, pulling the blade out of the rock-hard dirt mound while spinning left.

The Glint Jabber's sword grazes across the Minerva's dented left shoulder plate, leaving a shallow but long burnt scar while he pulls the buster sword over his head and onto the drone's right elbow joint.

***ZIIING***

The huge blade slices off the drone's forelimb, effectively disarming it of its one and only weapon. He grabs the beam saber on the left side of his waist, pulling it out hard across his front as it deploys the searing blue beam blade. The drone steps back and the saber cuts a shallow graze across its chest, partially exposing a spherical glowing core within.

"Is that—?"

***BOOM***

"GYAA—!"

His shielded back gets struck with a couple more shots from the Draco Jabber's impact cannons, hammering him back into the ground with a heavy thud and causing him to lose grip on the buster sword and the beam saber. Heavily worn-out from the prolonged combat as the day enters late afternoon, he struggles to push himself back up against the weight of the Minerva armor and the CSFP backpack.

'_That's it… that's their life force! If I take that out, it will…'_

The one-armed Glint Jabber backpedals, prompting Inami to give chase as he activates a full thrust from the CSFP. He zeroes straight for the white drone, pulling out the remaining beam saber from the right side of his waist.

"Gotcha…!"

His lunge is abruptly intercepted by the Stark Jabber grabbing his left arm, pulling it away from the Glint Jabber and turning him towards it instead. With the beam saber in his left hand which is caught by the drone, Inami attempts to fire the particle gun on his right arm until he notices the massive mounted shield on the drone's left arm splitting open, revealing a concealed pilebunker within which it then thrusts toward him.

"A stake…?"

Casting his thoughts aside, Inami catches the drone's left fist, clutching it firmly and struggling to push its arm and its thick pointed metal stake away from his head. However, fatigue slowly catches up to him and his strength weakens against the Stark Jabber's seemingly undiminished physical might, the benefit of an autonomous unit.

He moves up his right forelimb such that the in-built particle gun points towards the pilebunker, firing particle shots into the weapon at point blank. While the metal stake deflects the particle beam, its revolving chambers get riddled until the chambers themselves are ignited, warping the drone's entire left arm with streams of flames.

*_ktzzzt—_**BOOM***

All six chambers exploded intensely that both Inami and the Stark Jabber are pushed apart. The drone falls to the ground while he fires his thrusters, setting him upright as he lands down on one knee. The smoke clears and he sees the replica drones before him. Almost all but the Focus Jabber has lost an arm and the only relatively undamaged drone takes aim upon the Minerva with its sniper rifle, drawing its crosshairs directly to the helmet.

"_-That's enough, Arisawa! Fall back now!-_"

"Not yet! I can still fight…!"

Inami's weakened from the fight but he still musters up enough strength get back on his feet, looking at a flashing prompt on the helmet hologram visor that's showing the Minerva's particle power level in the red zone with roughly twenty percent power capacity.

'_Barely a hundred-forty power units left… huh.'_

The drones' visors suddenly flash for a few seconds and the Focus Jabber brings down its sniper rifle to its hip.

"…?"

In a snap, the replicas turn away and flies towards the south, away from IS Academy leaving Inami completely dumbstruck.

"_-Enemy formation heading southbound… They're retreating?-_"

"Looks like it."

The drones accelerate out of the area, eventually disappearing from sight as well as the Minerva's radar range.

"_-Huh… Well, I guess that's that. Nice work. What of the Minerva?-_"

"A little battered" Inami reports as he looks down to his chest plate, legs and arms, noticing the dented left shoulder plate with a deep graze mark across the top. The armor on other parts of his body was simply dotted with miniscule chipping and bits of dirt that are caught around the armor's edges. The indicators on the helmet's internal hologram screen shows the Minerva's power level crawling past twenty-five percent capacity with the colored silhouette indicator of the Minerva's barrier and armor glowing red and yellow respectively.

"_-Inami, I'm seeing some damage to the armor and the CSFP. Get back here so I can get them repaired.-_"

"Got it."

He picks up the beam saber hilts that he dropped along with the buster sword, mumbling "Well now… Can't just leave these lying around here" as he looks around the area where severed arms of most of the Replica Jabbers litter the area along their weapons; Draco Jabber's double-bladed scimitar lance, Glint Jabber's Yukihara-esque sword, Nacht Jabber's railgun that's attached to its right arm and finally the metal stake which is all that remains of the Stark Jabber's pilebunker.

"_-Explosion detected! About sixty kilometers off Kashima's coastline…!-_"

"Explosion…?"

"_-We'll fill you in on the details later, Arisawa. Head back to base stat.-_"

* * *

**========== Tanaka, Togane, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

In the living room of the Katami residence, while watching a drama show on the television, Reika turns to her daughter Tsurugi as she walks towards one of the single-seat sofas.

"He's not coming back?"

She shakes her head as she sits down on the comfy, charcoal-colored sofa.

"He said he has something to settle at work and he might not be coming home tonight."

"I see…"

"That's weird… I don't remember him telling us about him having a job since he came back."

Kiyoshi enters the living room carrying a tray holding three identical ceramic cups of tea, placing them on the low rectangular table sitting amongst the sofas with the TV set against a wall. Nodding off a "thanks" to him, the two take their own cups and take small sips of their tea. It didn't take long for the couple to notice their daughter spacing out with the cup in her hands.

"You all right, Tsurugi…?"

She bats an eyelid to her parents, realizing that she's accidentally made known her apparent concerns.

"Just a little worried, I guess…"

Reika takes the remote control and switches off the TV while Kiyoshi sits next to her, turning towards his daughter.

"What is it, dear?"

"He just got back… Just when I thought we'll be spending our time together like before, I remembered about the application."

"You haven't told him about it?"

Tsurugi shakes her head, sinking her head lower.

"I'm scared… that he would get angry at me. After he apologized for not being around for the past few years, I just can't help the sinking feeling that he won't take kindly to the enrollment seeing as it'll be _me_ who won't be around as much this time."

"He would be even more so if you don't tell him at all." Reika advises, taking another sip of tea while Tsurugi looks to her as she then continues "There's still summer so don't rush it."

Kiyoshi calmly drank his cup without a slight bother since he too shares the same thoughts with his wife on their daughter's concern.

* * *

**========== Choshi, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Within the confines of one of the IS Academy's private seaside resort, Chifuyu stands inside a off-limits operations room with other personnel including Maya manning different consoles with hologram screens above each. At one end of the room is another bigger hologram screen which is presumed to be the main screen for their operations which currently involves them attempting to track down the Silver Gospel that has disappeared from their radar net, shown with a flashing red dot on the map overview which indicates the last known location of the IS.

Hours have passed since their initial attempt to intercept, which was met with a harsh disappointing outcome that not only allowed the rogue IS to escape but also gravely injuring Ichika who rests in a makeshift infirmary.

While Chifuyu's worried sick of her sibling's condition, she remains rooted in the operations room staring at the main screen with a frown and her arms folded.

"We got a transmission request from the Academy. It's Murakumo-sensei."

No reply came from Chifuyu. The room entered short silence until Maya turns to her then to the staff that reported. "Sensei, its _urgent_" Reports the staff again, this time politely emphasizing on the dire need of the instructor's acknowledgement. Turning her face away from the personnel, she cringes hesitantly then looks up to the main screen again.

"…Put it on the main monitor."

"Yes, Sensei."

The staff immediately directs the transmission to the main screen which projects another separate window showing a [Voice-Only] text glowing blue against a pitch-black background.

"_-Found something interesting that you might want to take a look at, Sensei.-_"

_*tiit-tiiit* *tii-tii-tii-tii-tii-tiiiit—*_

With each accompanying beep is a picture of each of the Replica Jabbers that ensued combat against the Minerva over Kisarazu earlier that day. It did not take long for Chifuyu and Maya to recognize each and every one of the replicas shown.

"W-What the…? But how…?"

"Murakumo… Are these—?"

"_-Rather convincing replica units of our students' Personal IS, aren't they? These are the five units that were intercepted by Unknown One…-_" Kaori, who was on the line, briefly pauses and sends another image to the monitor, which then turns out to show the Minerva with the CSFP backpack and wielding the massive buster sword with both hands.

Chifuyu narrows her eyes at the picture of the Minerva, somewhat intrigued by its high-definition appearance after catching a distant glimpse of it back in Togane.

"…So this is Unknown One."

"_-For once, I'm not going to rule out the possibility that Unknown One might be a manned unit after all.-_"

"Why is that?"

"_-Look at the limbs. Those joints… That's not mechanical. That's a __**suit**__ underneath that armor.-_"

And it was no doubt that Kaori nailed the fact. No matter how she looks at it, Chifuyu could not recognize any sort of mechanical features on the few unarmored parts of the unit.

"_-Another thing, we've checked out the past investigation reports and this picture matches the descriptions given. Whoever's underneath that suit and armor—-_"

"Must've been about the same age, if not older than a first-year…"

"_-That's what I thought. Also, you were at Tanaka earlier, right? Unknown One took off from a relatively close position to yours when it headed out to intercept the enemy formation. I'd reckon that one of the students might've unknowingly interact or at least seen the pilot around the area.-_"

* * *

**========== Mount Nokogiri, Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

"DONE!"

Jinrai tosses his arms in the air after patching up the last damaged parts of the Minerva, startling Inami and Gerald who were literally next to him. The Minerva shines under the hangar bay's powerful overhead lights without any visible signs of damage that would give away hints of battle wear. The adolescent could only stare jaw-dropped while the other, who has his arms folded, gave no expression aside from a smirk.

"Awesome, it looks like new!"

"Damn right it does! Though it doesn't match up to what you've brought back for me."

Jinrai turns towards a pile, as does Inami and Gerald, where the severed parts of the Replica Jabbers are stashed at.

"I'm down to just two backlog projects I need to complete and those parts will help in my research."

"Glad I could be of help, Jinrai-san."

_*trriiiit—*_

Gerald takes out a PDA from his pocket which projects a floating hologram screen showing the overview map of Chiba Prefecture. The map zooms towards the city of Choshi where five blips emerge from the coastline and heads out towards the sea.

"Those are…"

"IS… Looks like they're going all-out this time…"

Another five blips appear off the southern coast, heading towards the mainland on a bearing straight for the IS Academy.

"…So must we. Arisawa, suit up!"

"Right away!"

* * *

**========== Tokyo Bay ==========**

The day has entered late evening and the Sun is barely visible over the horizon. The night skies are clear as Inami, in the Minerva, cruises above Tokyo Bay with the Type-One CSFP mounted horizontally onto his back. Hardly within range of the Academy and he could already see six Raphael Revives of the Aegis Team spreading out around the school's airspace, this time covering and even wider area as he approaches one of them head-on.

"_-This is the Academy's security squad, Aegis. Unknown One, you are entering restricted airspace.-_"

He gets taken aback by the warning. Never mind the school still being a long ways from his weapons' range, he's not even flying _towards_ it which makes the sudden warning a whole lot more awkward both in timing and setting than it was supposed to be.

'_What…? Even at this distance…? It's not like I'm— wait… "Unknown One"?'_

"_-I know you heard me. You have three seconds to respond or I will make you.-_"

'_WHAT? Why in the world must I—?'_ His thoughts interrupted by a separate, private transmission from Praxidike.

"_-Keep it cool, Arisawa. The helmet has a voice changer mechanism for communication with foreign channels. Play along.-_"

He clears his throat and accepts the transmission request from the security trooper who begins to fly by his side, keeping herself at a distance. Despite the full headgear that covers the pilot's entire head, he could still feel a sharp stare coming from her.

"Received."

No reply from the trooper. Inami grows more cautious, slowing down so as to not give away any sign of panic or aggressive intent as he soon receives another transmission request on a different channel which he reluctantly accepts.

"_-So it is a manned unit after all… You may address me as Aegis One. Also don't worry, this is a private channel.-_"

The voice of that of a young lady introduces herself through the comms, younger that he'd expect. Then again, who is he to judge an IS pilot's age? He is more concerned of her tone which sounded too relaxed for conversing with a total stranger.

"Minerva." He replies and trooper snickers on the comms.

"_-Look, I don't mean to be rude… But I'll really appreciate you not using that voice changer. It spoils the mood… seriously.-_"

"Che…"

What harm could come from revealing his real voice? Or so he thought. Neither of them knew of each other's faces nor their names, and at least a hundred other people nationwide would have the same voice as his. With that thought in mind, he disables the voice changer system.

"Better now?"

"_-Much better. Listen, I don't usually do this but we've not had any visitors, especially male ones since… forever… so be glad I'm actually bothered to speak to you casually.-_"

"Right… In any case, Aegis One, I don't really have the luxury to talk at the moment…"

"_-I don't suppose it involves five suspiciously accurate replicas of our students' Personal units that's currently heading towards us from the south?-_"

"Yes it does… and I'm heading to intercept them." He answers while in his mind is all _'How does she know all that…?'_ as he turns towards the direction of the incoming formation of the Replica Jabbers, the lone trooper also follows him along his side.

"_-You've been defending the Academy for three different occasions. I have no reason to believe that you are a threat…-_"

"Not like I have any reason to be one. What are you trying to say?"

"_-That you don't have to go alone this time. This is a threat directed towards the school so we will be deterring them as well.-_"

"No. This isn't like any other enemy units you may have faced… I won't allow it."

"_-You have no right to tell us off. If any of those things shoot at the Academy, we'll engage them.-_"

"Then I'll make sure they don't."

Without further adieu, Inami pushes ahead. The immense burst of particle jets from the backpack's thrusters launches him forward towards the direction of the incoming formation.

"W-wait, Minerva…!"

The trooper reaches out for him but he was already far ahead, leaving nothing but a trail of glowing blue particles that disperses within the grasp of her hand. _'Some first impression…'_ she grumbles in her thoughts, clenching her fist tight then draws out her Vent rifle.

* * *

**=== [End of Chapter 7] ===**


	8. Chapter 8 - Second Strike

**Infinite Stratos: Athena**

**Chapter 8: Second Strike**

* * *

**========== Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture ==========**

***BSHUU***

"Ergh… I can't get close on it!"

The Academy students Houki, Lingyin, Charlotte, Cecilia and Laura take on the Silver Gospel several meters off the coastline in an initially-successful ambush which has then dragged into a drawn-out battle between the two parties with the Silver Gospel keeping them in the defensive by using a its energy bit attacks.

It dodges the Akatsubaki's energy crescents and blocks the energy beam barrage with an even denser rain of its own energy bits. With her ranged attacks generally ineffective, Houki tries to go up to the Silver Gospel directly but gets turned away as it fends off her approach with a near-precise energy beam shot. Lingyin exploits the brief distraction and fire her Shenlong's quadruple Impact Cannons, which comes in the _Landslide_ package installed in her IS, at the Gospel. Instead of invisible compressed space, the projectiles are visible bolts of flames.

***BOOF* *BOOF***

She scores direct hits on the Silver Gospel's back but the IS remains unfazed by the hit and retaliates by showering her with energy bits, forcing her to speed away to avoid the barrage as they riddle the ocean surface on her trail.

"I'm going in, Cecilia!"

"Got your back!"

Charlotte sweeps out the Garm sub-machine gun on both hands, rushing head-on towards the rogue IS with Cecilia deploying the Blue Tears' wing bits to support her.

Cecilia sends the wing bits to surround the Silver Gospel at a distance and firing simultaneously upon it while Charlotte orbits the IS spraying her SMGs. The combined attack holds the Silver Gospel into defensive as it puts up its energy barrier to block all the shots from the two IS. The Gospel, not being the one to hold back, strikes off the chance of being overwhelmed by quickly darting out of the area while Charlotte and Cecilia attempt to give chase.

The Silver Gospel sends another barrage of energy bits onto Cecilia who's caught off-guard as she was focused on controlling her wing bits, only to have Charlotte dash in and block the shots with the massive physical shields of her _Garden Curtain_ package while Cecilia recovers the Blue Tears' wing bits, which form up around her waist like a skirt.

Laura patiently waits for the Silver Gospel to enter her sights. With the Schwarzer Regen secured on a small island and the twin railguns of her _Panzer Cannons_ package deployed, she tracks the silver IS with her targeting reticule as it attempts to close in on Lingyin whose firing her shock cannons to keep it away. Out of instinct, she aims the reticule ahead of her target and triggers a shot.

***BDOOF* **

The magnetically-propelled solid slug projectile tears through thin air and straight into the Silver Gospel's wings, causing an explosion and an extremely tremendous impact force that it sends the rogue IS tumbling out of the sky and towards the ocean. The AI of the Silver Gospel is barely affected by the impact force and quickly regains balance and hovers above the sea surface.

"Just can't quit, can you?"

As her fellow classmates regroup and aim their weapons at the Silver Gospel, it spirals into the sky while firing streams of energy bits upon them before diving towards the middle of the group.

* * *

**========== Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Inami slams into a hillside after blocking an attack from the Draco Jabber's twin impact cannons. Despite being outgunned and outnumbered five to one, not once does the idea of retreat enter his mind as he's resolved to defend the Academy. He charges head-on towards the Glint Jabber, swinging his buster sword over his shoulder and clashes against the drone's sword.

"Kuuuh…!"

Their raw strengths seem almost equal until the Glint Jabber fires its thrusters, overpowering him almost instantly. The difference in strength is too much for Inami to catch on and he twists the buster sword's edge away, deflecting the drone to the side. Turning around at the sound of a warning tone, he spots a white flash and ducks. The flash turns out to be a solid bullet fired from the Nacht Jabber's railgun.

Another shot gets fired and he jumps aside, boosting himself towards the drone as the bullet whizzes past his right side. The drone deploys its quadruple rocket anchors and launches them.

"I know your pattern!"

He strafes to the left, raising the buster sword over his shoulder while dodging the anchors. The Nacht Jabber's right shoulder is open to his attack and he swings the buster sword hard towards its arm.

***CLANG***

His attack connected but the impact felt different. The blade was stopped by the Stark Jabber's massive physical shield when it dashed between him and the Nacht Jabber as the buster sword gets swung towards it. He pulls back, narrowly avoiding four blue beams fired across his front like a net from the Focus Jabber's wing bits.

The drone fires a thicker blue beam from its sniper rifle towards Inami who props up the buster sword's broad side and deflects the shot. The Draco Jabber swoops towards his flank and swings its double bladed scimitar lance horizontally towards his back. He turns around, firing his left forearm particle gun at the Draco Jabber which, to his surprise, blocks the particle shots with a barely-visible geodesic energy barrier.

"The hell—?"

Inami brings the buster sword to his front and parries the Draco Jabber's scimitar blade.

'_These guys have shields too…! But back then, how was I able to—?'_

He recalls the previous skirmish against the Replica Jabbers where he manages to sever off some of their limbs and weaponry.

'_Could it be because…'_

While his right hand holds the buster sword in invert, blocking the drone's scimitar blade, he whips out the beam saber from the right side of his waist and lunges it towards the Draco Jabber. The beam saber stabs into the drone's right shoulder.

'_So that's how—!'_

The drone immediately retaliates with a swift kick of its right leg into his lower abdomen. It was strong enough to knock Inami several steps back but with the buster sword and beam saber still in his firm grip. He could feel the impact against his body but he shrugs it off and looks up to the Draco Jabber, noticing that its right arm is hanging loosely from its shoulder joint.

"Their barrier only works when I'm not up close…"

* * *

**========== Mount Nokogiri, Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Gerald watches the fight on a hologram overview map on the floor of the operations room with blips representing different active units, including IS, move around the map. Another thought enters his troubled mind as he switches view to the sea off Ibaraki Prefecture's coastline where the six IS signals dash from one spot to another, one of them colored red and labeled with an [**UNKNOWN**] mark to represent the rogue Silver Gospel.

'_Something's not right…'_

He switches the view back to the Tokyo Bay area where six IS signals are spread out around the Academy, one of them holding position close to where Inami, represented with a blue blip marked [**MINERVA**], is engaged against five red blips which are the Replica Jabbers.

'_He should've known that it'll be easier to attack the IS group at Choshi directly since they're already pre-occupied against an enemy IS. Why does he insist on taking on the Academy knowing of its defenses…?'_

The view is switched back to Ibaraki Prefecture's coast.

'_For someone who's hell-bent on destroying IS, this is certainly not the right plan for such… Unless…'_

Another thought flashes in his mind, switching the view back to Tokyo Bay.

'_Unless… he plans to take out the Minerva first…!'_

* * *

In another section of the base, Jinrai stands behind a clear blast shield overlooking what appears to be a firing range with a target at one end and a big, magnum-type gun secured to an elevated platform on the other. Wearing protective tinted goggles, he mans the control console in front of him, pressing on different buttons and switches which bring down three thick metal plates arranged in linear alignment before the target.

"Prototype Magnus unit three, barrier type solid… fire."

He presses a red button labeled "Test Fire" on the console and within a fraction of a second, the gun fires a purple, medium-sized particle beam projectile which punches through all the metal plates and the target at the end. The shot left a huge hole with smoldering rim on all the plates while the target is simply left with a shallow blast mark. He checks the screen on the console showing the weapon labeled as [**MAGNUS**] linked directly to a particle capacitor that's fueled by a mini particle generator similar to the ones built into the Minerva.

The screen shows the capacitor's power via an indicator which displays [**Power Points** - **650 / 700**].

"All right, switching barrier type to particle…"

The three metal plates are pulled out of the range and replaced with a bigger, hollow square frame with nodes on all four corners within it. The frame's nodes then project a particle barrier between the gun and the target, and the console shows the barrier's power as [**Barrier Points - 700 / 700**].

"…Fire."

The weapon fires again. A shot identical to the previous hits the barrier and causes a brief bright flash that Jinrai quickly puts his arms up to cover his eyes. The console begins to beep repeatedly prompting him to look at the console screen which shows the barrier power as a flashing [**Barrier Points - 593 / 700**] prompt. He looks into the range and immediately notices a slightly smaller, deeper blast mark carved on the target despite the particle barrier hardly attenuated to half its power.

He looks over to the fixated weapon, growing a grin as he sees the weapon hardly showing any physical damage.

'_No frame breach, no misfire… Perfect! All that's left now is the sword… and then…'_

He taps on the console screen which then brings up another window showing a live feed of another room cluttered with consoles and other machinery along with a fully-covered construction cage that has an "A. SHROUD" spray mark on it. Panel gaps around the cage glow white, indicating an ongoing construction within it.

* * *

**========== Hachijo Island, Izu Islands Cluster ==========**

Watching the fight between the Replica Jabbers and the Minerva, Clause notices that the replicas are slowly pushing back their aggressor towards the Academy and none of them have sustained any damage aside from the Draco Jabber.

'_Even with our swift repair and recovery system, that unit still manages to counter us promptly…'_

Despite the timely counter, he still grows a smirk at the fact that the drones are gaining ground albeit very slowly then glances over to Ibaraki Prefecture's portion on the hologram overview map where six blips representing the Academy students' Personal IS and the Silver Gospel, move about drastically. Four are colored red with each representing each of the known IS: Shenlong, Blue Tears, Raphael Revive and Schwarzer Regen. The remaining two white blips are marked as [**UNKNOWN**], indicating either the Silver Gospel or the Akatsubaki which are not present in their database.

'_Attacking the IS directly would have been better indeed… but this guy…' _He narrows his eyes to the other [**UNKNOWN**] blip engaging against the Replica Jabbers, frowning at its cumbersome interventions as he goes _'…is one hell of an annoyance that needs to be rid of before I can do so.'_

Then there is another concern in his thoughts.

A couple of signals appear on the sea far off the coast of Isumi. The new signals, both marked as [**STRIKER**], trails along the mainland's perimeter while keeping a great distance from the coastline as they approach the area where the Academy IS and the Silver Gospel are.

'_There's no way in hell we'll able to ascertain the IS' capability or even deliver our message without attacking. The Strike Jabber's missiles should be more than enough of to shake things up for them.'_

_*tiit-tiit* *tiit-tiit*_

"Hmm…?"

Clause turns to the blue blips of the Replica Jabbers, each of them beginning to flash red with [**WARNING**] prompts popping up next to them.

"Hey… what's this? Block R, on the line, now!"

"_-Sir, we're detecting an unauthorized system intrusion! The R-Series drones… They're… They're being hacked from an unknown source!-_"

"Find the origin! Maintain radar contact with the drones!"

"_-The signal's scrambled over a huge network of redirection and signal splits. It's a whole web of messy lines, there's no way we can trace it!-_"

"Then cut off all signal links to the drones, curb the intrusion!"

"_-Already did, sir! The hacker's signal isn't coming from an external source… it's coming from the Replicas themselves!-_"

"What…?"

He looks back to the screen where the flashing blips and warning tones continuously beep as the prompts gradually gets distorted with static, eventually showing an obscured icon of a pair of rabbit ears similar to the ones that appeared when they received the IS schematics.

"No way… Could it be…?"

* * *

**========== Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

The Replica Jabbers spasm uncontrollably, most of them remain in hover while the only unit on the ground, the Glint Jabber, steps away from Inami while still pointing its sword towards him. He turns to the other drones, noticing that their eyes are flashing repeatedly as the glow begins to turn red as though they are being possessed.

"Hey hey… What's happening here?"

"_-They're not attacking…?-_"

"_-Arisawa, now's your chance, strike while they're vulnerable!-_"

"Right!" he answers in prompt, boosting himself towards the Glint Jabber with great speed and the buster sword held over his right shoulder.

"WOOAAAAAAH—!"

He swings the weapon hard onto the drone only to be met with a swift parry of its own blade. He could not believe what he's seeing; the drone did not even move its head up to look yet it was able to time his attack with near-pinpoint precision. With both their blades' edges slowly grinding against each other, the Glint Jabber raises its head to look at him. Its pitch-black eyes emit an intimidating flash of red light.

Slightly disturbed by the red glow of its eyes, Inami pushes the buster sword against its sword to keep him from being overwhelmed until another pair of bright flashes in a distance behind the Glint Jabber snatches his attention.

***BDOOM***

"GYAA—!"

Impact projectiles from the Draco Jabber's cannons knocks him off the Glint Jabber, sending him tumbling a short distance away and tearing up a shallow trail of soil and dirt, which rained on and around him. He immediately gets up with bits of soil falling off the Minerva armor's edges and sees the Replica Jabbers turning tail and flies toward the north-east.

"Retreating again…?"

"_-No, can't be. This bearing… They're heading for the Academy IS group off the eastern coastline!-_"

"_-Stop them, Arisawa!-_"

His resolve renewed at the gravity of the situation, Inami launches himself into the air with a powerful thrust from the CSFP's main particle jets and begins to pursue the drone formation.

* * *

**========== Choshi, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

"What did you say…?" Asks Chifuyu who's stunned at the abrupt news of the Replica Jabbers' approach, as if they do not already have a pressing matter at hand with their best students already went out their own way to deal with the Silver Gospel. Maya, who is at the primary console, enlarges the overview map on the main hologram widescreen where five red blips with the lone [**U-1**] blip in hot pursuit approaches the northern border of Ichihara city.

"They're coming in fast…!"

"_-Sensei, I'm sending Aegis One and Two to—-_"

"No, we need them to block off the Gospel's escape routes!"

"_-The students will have more than just a rogue IS to deal with if we don't stop them! Isn't it your own instructions to make sure no external hostiles hinder your mission? Unknown One can't possibly handle all five of them alone—!-_"

Chifuyu grits her teeth as she grows even more annoyed having to deal with two concurrent occurrences.

"Unknown One is **not** even affiliated with the Academy to begin with so we have no obligation to assist."

"_-But—!-_"

"Maintain Aegis' positions. We'll deal with the enemy formation at the slightest notice of hostility."

"_-…Understood. Out.-_" and the transmission immediately silenced. It was no doubt to Chifuyu that her fellow instructor is against her instructions, including a part of her deep inside. Somewhere within, she knows there's a probability that the students will get overwhelmed by the intervention of the enemy formation.

'_She's right… That Silver Gospel is already a handful for them. If the enemy formation joins the fray, they'll…'_

_*tiit-tiit*_

Maya looks to the console, gasping upon noticing something on the screen as she turns back to Chifuyu.

"S-Sensei! Look at this!"

She projects the view onto the main hologram screen. Chifuyu's eyes grow wide and her mouth slowly gaping at what's being shown on the screen.

* * *

**========== Chiba, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Passing over Midori Ward's airspace, the Replica Jabbers resume their course while Inami struggles to hinder their progress. He clashes swords with the Glint Jabber only to have the Draco Jabber blast him away with its impact cannons. Focus Jabber fires a barrage of blue beams from its wing bits and its sniper rifle, forcing him to keep moving until he flies head-on towards the Nacht Jabber's flank.

"I'm not letting you get away!"

The drone deploys beam blades from its forearms, turning left and deflecting his buster sword with its left arm then thrusts its right towards him. The blade grazes the top of his left shoulder as he fires the CSFP's shoulder particle guns at point blank. The shots pelting against its chest chews into its armor, forcing it to kick him off as the Stark Jabber approaches his flank firing both its rifles.

***TA-TA* *TA-TA-TA***

The solid bullets get blocked by the Minerva's particle barrier but the drone still closes in with both guns blazing.

Inami spins right and whips out a beam saber, slicing one of the rifles as the Stark Jabber passes him. The drone tosses the half of the rifle away just as it explodes and a small panel on the underside of its forelimb pops open, revealing a folded combat knife which slides out the panel and unfolds the blade in its grip.

More shots are fired from its other rifle, deflecting off the particle barrier as the drone approaches him and lunges its knife. The strike missed and Inami quickly moves left and right to dodge the drone flailing its knife randomly. He snaps his beam saber back into its waist sheath and thrusts the butt of the buster sword's handle into its lower abdomen, knocking it back a short distance as he turns back and boosts ahead towards the leading Glint Jabber while firing particle shots at the other replica drones.

'_That got their attention…!'_

***CLANG***

Once again he and the winged white drone parry each other's strike. He alternates between sword slashes and firing his shoulder particle guns, forcing the drone into defensive while he heavily hacks away at its sword until light fractures begin to form on its edges. He musters his strength for one more strike, firing the particle jets lined at the back of the buster sword's blade which brings its blade down hard onto the Glint Jabber's sword.

***KCHAANG***

The drone's solid sword breaks apart, revealing a hollow interior with a rectangular muzzle at the top of the grip which generates a thick purple energy blade as long as the solid blade that was in its place.

"A beam saber—?"

Inami boosts away, narrowly avoiding the searing energy blade being swung across his front but also brings him into the crosshair of the Nacht Jabber's railgun. Warning tones prompt him to look left where he sees the drone already charging up the weapon with a bright glow at its muzzle.

* * *

***TA-TA***

Two medium-caliber bullets strike the railgun's side, knocking it to its left as the Nacht Jabber discharges the shot at the Glint Jabber instead. The blast of the electromagnetically-propelled solid slug destroys one of the drone's wings and sends it tumbling out of the sky.

"Eh…?"

He turns to the direction the bullets were fired from and sees a lone gray Raphael Revive IS approaching them.

"_-Got you covered, Minerva!-_"

"Aegis One! Why are you—?"

"_-Isn't it obvious?-_" The trooper interrupts, firing more shots at the Stark and Draco Jabbers to knock them off his proximity as she flies over to his side, turning her head to him going "These things are definitely gunning for the students that are fighting off the eastern coast…" then aims her Vent rifle at the Focus and Nacht Jabbers hovering before them.

Warning tones direct him to his flank and he turns with his back against the trooper's, holding up the buster sword as the Stark, Draco and Glint Jabbers hover a short distance away from him.

"Just what are these things…? How do they even managed to obtain data of our students' IS to produce such accurate replicas?"

"Academy students' IS…?"

"Yes. These designs are definitely the same as the personal units used by some of the first-year students in Class One… The same students that's currently engaging in combat off the eastern coast."

***BDOOF***

The two move away, dodging another shot from the Nacht's railgun. Aegis One retaliates, firing her rifle at the drone only to have her shots rebound against its barrier. "_Tch_… They have barrier shields as well?" asks the trooper without noticing the four blue wing bits encircling over her.

Just as the Focus Jabber almost acquire a lock on the trooper, a shower of particle bullets pelt against its barrier and disrupts its view along with its targeting systems. It pulls back, looking up to the Minerva descending upon it while continuing to rain particle shots from the twin shoulder particle guns. Inami slashes at the drone with his buster sword and it props up its sniper rifle to block only to have the blade slice through it effortlessly.

The rifle explodes in its hands forcing it to retreat and firing the missile tubes on both sides of its waist. The missiles fly into the smoke cloud and suddenly erupt into another explosion from within, along with a silhouette moving out the top of the smoke cloud which the drone immediately targets and sends its wing bits to attack it.

Blue beams converge upon the silhouette and gets dispersed upon impact, revealing it to be the buster sword much to the drone's shock. Inami exploits its brief confusion, flying up towards it from below the smoke cover and whips out a beam saber.

"You're MINE!"

He smacks the beam saber on the Focus Jabber's waist, slicing off the missile tube and pulls the saber up across the drone's torso until its whole body gets sliced apart. The cleaved drone blows up, raining a shower of smoldering blue scraps as Inami snatches the falling buster sword.

"Minerva! The others, they're getting away!"

The news struck a nerve and he begins to give chase, blowing past the trooper who's engaging against the Nacht Jabber with his sights laid on the Draco, Stark and Glint Jabbers.

"Go get '_em_…!" cheers the trooper with in a soft, whispering voice before turning back to the Nacht dashing towards her with its forearm beam blades. The drone executes a cross-slash but she flies up to avoid, drawing out a huge knife which digitally forms up in her grip. The knife, known as the _Iron Sail_, is an oversized double-edged assault knife colored primarily in charcoal gray with a platinum highlight on the edges.

She stabs the knife deep into the lower back of the drone's neck, further damaging its targeting systems and optical cameras then plants a foot at its back, kicking it away while ripping the knife out along with confetti of metal pieces and wire strips. As the Nacht Jabber falls, she swaps the Iron Sail for the Vent rifle and aims it at the drone's upper body.

***TA-TA* *TA-TA-TA* *TA-TA-TA***

The shots chip the drone's armor bit by bit until its entire body disintegrates and its internal thruster fuel line ruptures, immediately sparking into flames.

***BOOOM***

The fuel line inside the riddled Nacht Jabber's thruster ignites and rips the drone apart in a massive cloud of flames and smoke.

* * *

**========== Tanaka, Togane, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Tsurugi runs out to her home backyard, looking up to the sky where Inami takes on the remaining three Replica Jabbers in a furious exchange of fire and sword clashes. The ringing noise of projectile and hard metal impacts rattle the atmosphere yet she remained unfazed, anxiously watching the airborne combat raging over her home town.

"Ina-kun…!"

Sparks flash each time Inami's buster sword clashes against both the Glint Jabber and Draco Jabber which, even with its right arm gone, is still able to use its double-bladed scimitar lance just as proper albeit slower and with less strength. Struggling to keep its targeting sights on the Minerva, the Draco Jabber fires both its impact cannons simultaneously as he approaches it from below.

* * *

The near-invisible compressed space projectiles hit against his particle barrier and knocks him off his flight path but he still pushes ahead, shrugging off every hit while holding the buster sword down his right side. Warning tones beep inside the helmet, alerting him to the deteriorating barrier strength that's glowing yellow on the hologram screen display as well as the Minerva's power level, which is slowly counting past _four-hundred_ points and decreasing.

The Draco Jabber swings its scimitar lance across its front to block the strike and he ignites the buster sword's thrusters, swinging the weapon upwards and cleaves its scimitar lance in half. Aiming the impact cannons at point-blank, the drone triggers a shot from both and misses as he ducks out of instinct.

"An opening…!"

Inami spins his body left and pulls the massive buster sword horizontally towards the drone's waistline, slicing its top and bottom halves apart.

He turns to the Stark Jabber, pushing the backpack's particle thrusters to maximum and dogs the drone while the Draco Jabber explodes behind him. With his backpack's shoulder particle guns aiming for its arms, he fires upon the Stark Jabber and riddles its remaining rifle before it could shoot back.

_*KAPRAA—!*_

The drone releases the damaged rifle which shatters into pieces upon leaving its grip.

"WOOAAAAAH—!" yells Inami at the top of his lungs as he charges head-on towards the Stark Jabber with his buster sword held up horizontally on his side, pointing the tip straight ahead at the drone as it attempts to keep him away by firing the in-built machinegun in its right arm. The shots get dispersed by the Minerva's particle barrier and the drone whips out its assault knife while bringing its massive shield to its front, covering its lower chest.

Just as the buster sword's tip hits the shield, the Stark Jabber thrusts its right arm in front and stabs into his left shoulder particle gun, chipping off a piece of his shoulder armor in the process.

The buster sword however, impales through the drone's shield and abdomen. "Heh…" Inami grows a smirk, watching as the red glow in the drone's eyes flicker until it goes blank. Sparks discharge from within its body through the gaps between the blade and the impaled body, which then erupts into an explosion which completely shrouds him before he could escape.

* * *

On the ground, Tsurugi watches in horror at the sight of flames engulfing the entirety of the Minerva only to see him falling out of the fire cloud seconds after. He regains balance and hovers a short distance away from the smoke cloud while the Glint Jabber also hovers before him.

"What is all that noise…?"

She turns back and sees her mother Reika sleepily stepping out of the house.

"I-It's nothing, Mother! Nothing at all!"

"I see… What are you doing out here—?"

"I'm just going to head out for a walk!"

"…At _this_ time of the night?"

"Y-Yeah! It's much more c-cooling at this time…!" She stutters to reply, rolling her eyes up to the distant sky where Inami and the Glint Jabber are still hovering before each other, slowly raising their swords towards their front.

"Don't tire yourself out, dear. Just come back in and go to bed…"

"I'll be fine, Mother! It's only for a while… I'll return home as soon as I'm done."

"But it's late—"

"It's fine, don't worry!"

Without another moment spared after Reika goes to her bedroom, Tsurugi grabs her cellphone, wallet and a jacket then briskly heads for the main gate.

* * *

Back in the skies, Inami's sights are fixated upon the remaining, one-winged drone. His breaths are heavy, bearing the weight of fatigue after continuous pursuit and combat which has worn out even more after surviving the explosion caused by the Stark Jabber's destruction. Even with the mounting fatigue, he manages to grow a smirk.

'_Even if I lose here… there's no way this drone can take on all the Academy IS on its own.'_

He has already won.

The Glint Jabber however, begins to attack _him_ directly. Slashing its huge beam sword across its front and clashes against his buster sword, the drone exerts tremendous strength on its weapon that he gets pushed towards earth by it.

"_Tch_…!"

Pushing the buster sword to the left, he deflects the drone's strike past his side and ramming his helmet against its head. The impact hardly throws off the drone's focus and it swipes its saber across the front but it goes over Inami, who dodges by shutting off his thrusters. With the Glint Jabber above, he boosts under the drone and up behind it, planting a foot against its back then pushes towards the ground.

***GDAASH***

The drone slams face-first into the soil. He jumps off its back a short distance ahead, turning left with his buster sword held low by the side of his waist while the drone gets up. Its red-glowing visor blinks erratically with distorted yet eligible [TARGET: **AKATSUBAKI**] prompts being overwritten with a similarly big, flashing [**OVERRIDE**] prompt.

Losing its red glow, the Glint Jabber's eyes flashes green again, looking straight at the Minerva. Both of its hands hold the grip of its beam sword, holding it up the side of its face with the tip pointing towards him.

"It's eyes…"

Despite being surprised himself, Inami frowns with a small smile and plants his left foot ahead while still holding the buster sword below the right side of his waist. The Glint Jabber pushes ahead with the beam sword and Inami does the same, firing his particle jets as he drags the buster sword across the ground towards the charging drone.

* * *

**========== Infinite Stratos Academy ==========**

"Enemy drones…?"

"_-Yes. Apparently a couple of those missile-carrying unknowns showed up and attacked the students. Then again, Cecilia managed to intercept the missiles and took out both units as they tried to retreat.-_"

"I see… What of the Gospel?"

"_-The pilot is recovering in the medical bay. She has yet to regain consciousness but her vitals are stable. We'll return once we've wrapped up things on our end.-_"

"That is good news… But… about Orimura-kun, is he really all right?"

A short sigh comes in reply through the voice-only transmission between Kaori and Maya, who's still at the Academy's seaside resort. The operations room's main hologram screen shows the overview of Choshi where Silver Gospel has reportedly been put out of commission moments ago and there has not been any present threats aimed towards them or the IS Academy itself since then.

"_-We don't really know how he recovered… His IS even went into Second Shift! It's rather unbelievable but that's what really happened.-_"

"Second Shift… huh? That boy's got a story to tell when he comes back."

"_-I suppose so. Well now, see you soon. We'll update you again once the pilot has regained consciousness.-_"

The line goes silent and Kaori loses her smile, moving the overview map's focus onto Togane where a blinking [**U-1**] indicator and another red blip mark the last known location of the Minerva and the Glint Jabber. It is a worrying sight to have a manned unit mysteriously disappear off the radar for no apparent reason and she could not help but dwell upon the possibilities.

"Recall the troopers… and open up a private line for Aegis One."

"Yes, Sensei."

The Aegis security troopers that have been stationed at different points of varying distances from the Academy begins to head back for the school while one of the friendly blips marked as [**A-1**] that is passing over Togane blinks briefly.

"Katagiri."

"_-Yes, Sensei…?-_"

"Any luck finding him?"

"_-None… All I found was burning remains of the last replica unit. Not a single sight of Minerva around the area…-_"

"I see… So he's gone into hiding."

"_-I thought so too… Should I continue the search?-_"

"No, return for now. He's not a runaway fugitive, I'm sure we'll see him again soon."

"_-Yeah… You're right. Aegis One heading home, out.-_"

* * *

**=== [End of Chapter 8] ===**

* * *

**Author's Note: **_In a sense, this is the penultimate chapter for the pilot arc. Next one will be the transition to the next arc, after which I will be taking a short hiatus. There's going to be some "Woah Hey!" kind of things coming up so I need to make sure I'm mentally ready(Read: sane) before re-drafting the chapters again._

_Please do drop a review or two on your views on this fanfic so far. Generally, the entire plotline for Athena is set from start to end but there are still a few rooms for flexibility, where necessary that is. I do believe I still have areas I need to improve on so reviews in regards to those, especially HOW I can improve, is greatly appreciated._

_Of course, constructive criticism are welcome too, if any._

_Thanks again for taking the time to read this fanfic! Every view/hit/visitor is really appreciated! ^^_


	9. Chapter 9 - Recovery

**Infinite Stratos: Athena**

**Chapter 9: Recovery**

* * *

**========== Tanaka, Togane, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

"_Ergh_… _Uuuurh_…"

It's been a couple of weeks since the Replica Jabbers incident and things have been rather peaceful that Inami slowly comes awake thinking like it just happened yesterday. It's a Saturday afternoon and he has practically dozed off almost _half_ of the day on the sofa in the living room.

Or so he thought.

Clearly he could not have been mistaken by the oddly soft sensation his head is resting upon or the fact that his head is slightly tilted upwards with a slight painless strain at the back of his neck. The sofa might just have a sudden bump caused by mass displacement under his weight or he might've forgotten that he got a pillow before he dozed off. Such thoughts present no bother but his tilted neck eventually does so he turns his head to the side.

"_Ehee_…!"

Despite the sudden yelp, it was too soft to register an effect on his mind. However, he soon begins to feel odd. The soft sensation pressing against his right cheek is too smooth and its lacking the fiber bristles of the sofa's cover. Moreover, it feels bodily warm as if the sofa has absorbed his body throughout his sleep.

Or so he thought…

He opens his eyes and sees the television tipping on its side. Its bottom is sticking to the right side along with the coffee table. But that is just his vision from a tilted head.

What immediately caught his eye is the pair of slender legs the right side of his head is resting upon.

"—!"

He gets up quick and turns around. Sitting on the sofa, dressed in white tank-top and a pair of grey shorts is Tsurugi smiling at him with a short chuckle.

"Tsu-chan…! You—"

"Had a good sleep?"

"Umm… Yes, I guess… But why were you—?"

"Can't be helped, you hogged the whole sofa and I don't want to turn my head just to watch TV."

'_Oh… right…'_ he mentally replies, embarrassed at the stated fact even though it has been countless of times that he has done it. Outdoors totally bathed with bright direct sunlight, granted that there are very few clouds in the sky but the house's AC is running so the tenants are spared from the supposed merciless heat from outside.

"Summer's really a killer this year… Even last year wasn't _this_ bad."

"Well it _is_ summer." Inami passes the obvious remark then gets off the sofa in his short-sleeve shirt and knee-length pants, heading out of the living room.

"Where are you going?"

"Gonna wash myself up a bit, I'm feeling a little too… dry."

"Well okay. Mom and Dad are coming home tonight, how about we go out and find stuffs for dinner later?"

'_A special celebration dinner…'_

He remembers Reika mentioning about something along that line, something about a special dinner to wish her daughter good luck though he does not recall being told the details about it. The thought soon slips off his mind. It is going to be a hearty occasion for someone he holds dear along with her parents whom are the closest he has to his own which is all that matters to him.

"Oh right… Sure!"

She beams a wide smile, switching off the TV then pushes herself off the sofa.

"Sweet, let's go then!"

* * *

**========== Infinite Stratos Academy ==========**

Even with the heating torment outside, the instructors' office remains cool thanks to the network of ceiling ACs. Nevertheless, it does not ease any tension for Kaori who's restless in her own cubicle with a brown folder neatly filled with a thin stack of papers resting on her desk. The folder has "Unknown-01" written on its cover with a bullet-tip marker pen.

"That took a while…"

Twirling the pen around her fingers, she stares blankly at her computer screen which displays a written record of the Minerva along with a picture of it;

[

_Subject Designation:_

_Unknown-01_

_First Sighted:_

_April 25__th_

_First Sighted Location:_

_Tokyo Bay_

_Subject Details:_

_Humanoid Armor Unit armed with lethal particle-based weaponry and manned by a single user. Roughly 1.8 meters tall, user is voice-confirmed male in his mid-late teens as reported by Aegis One. Multiple encounters, none hostile. Subject appears to be actively deterring third-party attacks on the Academy. Armed humanoid attack drones, designated Unknown-02, appear to trigger 01's appearance on every occasion._

_Action Taken:  
__  
Supervision._

_Reason For Action Taken:_

_Subject is deemed non-hostile. Active deterrence of attacks directed towards the Academy is unnecessary but appearance can be used as a tell-tale sign for potential attacks. Hence, supervision of Unknown-01 is highly-advised._

_Additional Report(NIL if none):_

_As of July 7__th__, Unknown-01 will be dubbed "Minerva", the confirmed proper designation of report subject reported by Aegis One._

_As of July 8__th__, Minerva is classified Missing In Action. Decision to pursue report subject investigation is on hold until disciplinary board's action review of Aegis One is complete._

_As of July 10__th__, action review for Aegis One consolidated. Board advises Aegis One be nominated as Investigation Officer for report subject Unknown-01. Nomination confirmed, Aegis One will be placed under supervision of instructor Kaori Murakumo as per confirmation of experience dealing with the report subject Unknown-01 "Minerva"._

]

"_Che_… Fancy asking me to write a report just because _he_ keeps appearing when _I'm_ on duty." grumbles Kaori as she browses through her own report, realizing that it has added more work to her pile. Several pages of the report have printed pictures of the Minerva in combat along with sticky notes complacently scribbled in pen with words like "beam guns" and "beam saber" to label the powered armor's visible in-built weaponry.

She closes the report with a grunt and another file on her desk catches her attention.

Unlike the previous report file, this one is colored navy blue with the Academy's symbol imprinted in the middle at the bottom of the cover and has a "Student Progress File" printed in white at the center of it. Kaori flips the file open and begins to browse through the few sheets of what appears to be an application form written with a decent, average handwriting, the student's name partially-blocked with only the surname visible.

'_Katami… huh?'_

As she reads through the written form, her eyes stopped at the student's residence, briefly raising her brows and growing a small smile as though she just realized something interesting.

'_Heh… What are the odds…?'_

* * *

**========== Hachijo Island, Izu Islands Cluster ==========**

"Thank God for air-conditioners…"

Clause watches out his base's observation deck where the hologram screen displays the temperature outdoors while the Sun bathe the island with intense heat and daylight. Staring at the hologram screen from a rotary seat in front of the deck's control console, he brings out various data from the archives including first-person-perspective pictures of the Minerva.

'_A single manned unit fending off five of our masterpieces in a single fight…'_

He enlarges the pictures in sequence which shows the Minerva with the Type-One flight unit mounted on the back, some magnifying the in-built weapons like the beam guns on the forelimbs, the beam sabers stored on the waist and the massive, broad buster sword.

'_Even though it mounts specialized close-combat equipment as a standard…'_

Pictures of the Minerva taking damage from railgun and super-compact air projectiles is swapped to the foreground, showing bits of the geodesic particle barrier that shields the unit against the shots as well as pictures of physical fracture damage on the unit's armor.

'_Tough… but not invincible. Then there's still the Academy's IS defense system…'_

"_Tch_." He clicks his tongue as he swipes the pictures off the hologram screen and back into the archives, pulling out a couple of items. One is labeled [**JABBER 02: ASTRA**] while the other has a single, big Greek sigma icon as its cover. He selects the former which displays another humanoid drone unit unlike the previous Jabber drones the organization has fielded. This new Jabber unit, the _Astra_, appears much slimmer than its predecessor.

The Astra also appears to lack in-built weaponry on its arms like the predecessor. However, it is armed with a pair of cannons mounted on its back and a long sleek solid blade attached to a rotating mount that's attached parallel to its right forelimb. The opposite tip of the mounted blade sports a couple of oval-shaped gun muzzles.

"Block R, what's the sit-rep on the revised Replicas?"

"_-We've just completed the combat test for Unit Two-B, sir. The cannons' alternate function for plasma ammunition churns out more way more firepower compared to the Jabber's plasma guns and the scimitar halberd appears to hit much harder compared to the previous double-bladed lance type.-_"

"And the Astra?"

"_-As planned, we've built three of them. They're currently being loaded onto an Ark along with the rest of Apprehension Plan.-_"

As the personnel speaks through the comms, Clause browses through other data in the archives on the hologram screen. One of the item, labeled [**APPREHENSION PLAN**] on the top right of the hologram screen, shows what appears to be a strike force consisting of several Jabbers and Strike Jabbers. Alongside the drones are three of the Astra units and a massive transport aircraft labeled [**ARK**].

The Ark appears as a huge, tailless, variable forward wing sweep aircraft with a bulk on its underside where the main cargo hold resides. Relatively flat top, the aircraft also lacks a visible cockpit which instead has four semi-transparent panels around its nose cone, each concealing an optical camera. The Ark's overall design is relatively sleek with barely any major hinges across its exterior and at the back of it are quadruple deep, rectangular engine exhausts.

'_Apprehension Plan… A painstaking compromise but if all goes well…'_

The screen immediately swipes off the displayed data back into the archive and swaps out a global view where a dotted line traces from Japan towards North America across the Pacific Ocean then back to Japan, at Hachijo Island where the Hyperion Styx's base is located. Three indicators [**01**], [**02**] and [**03**] are then projected at specific points along the dotted path.

'_We'll have the world's greatest piece of technology in our hands!'_

Clause grins at the screen and closes the overview display, staring out towards the distant town.

'_Enjoy your summer while you still can, people of the Academy.'_

* * *

**========== Mount Nokogiri, Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

Held in a construction cage, the _Minerva Kai_ powered armor stands in all glory of its completion. Primarily painted in darker shades of gray than the predecessor Minerva, which is held in another cage next to it fully restored with hardly any signs of damage on its armor, the Kai also sports red highlights on some parts of its armor as opposed to the original's blue. Despite the slightly different color scheme, the Kai's armor itself is different from its predecessor.

Unlike the original Minerva, the Kai lacks the large rounded pauldrons on its shoulders and instead sports slightly curved rectangular armor platings attached to where the user's biceps would be. The Kai's chest armor is also smaller and significantly thinner than the Minerva's, whose chest armor has flat, angular plates that roughly reflects the human body while the Kai's is a vest-styled chest armor with an armor plate over the upper torso and a few articulated plates attached to its bottom.

The Kai's helmet is also drastically different from the Minerva's. In addition to the thin visor of the original, the Kai also has a single fang-like slit down the middle giving the visor a roughly T-shaped appearance. It also has cheek guards and a protective alloy brace that reinforces the top of the helmet unlike the original, which has a beak-like protrusion below the visor and a cap-like protrusion on top of it.

On its back is a pair of particle thruster jets with actuator fins on the exhausts unlike the Minerva's which has cone-shaped nozzles at the end of its own. The Kai's particle jets also appear to be relatively bigger than the Minerva's and also retains the original's particle jets built on its calves.

"So this is the new Minerva unit…?"

"Yes. Minerva Unit Two, the Minerva _Kai_. After reviewing his past battles, it is clear that Inami's combat capability is greatly hindered by quite a number of factors of the original unit."

"Such as…?"

Jinrai pops open a laptop that's resting on a workbench. The screen then displays the predecessor Minerva unit in wireframe model form while he taps on the flat keyboard, bringing up data of the unit's in-built armaments.

"The original's weapons. The beam sabers are the Minerva's most powerful weapons but it consumes quite a lot of power in-use. The particle guns on the other hand, don't use as much power and yet they could deal considerable damage against the enemy drone units. Against the barrier-shielded units like the IS replica drones however… not as effective."

Gerald nods with narrowed eyes. In his mind, he wonders where and how did Clause managed to obtain barrier shield technology, let alone schematics of active IS units.

"We have little reason to believe that the enemy, whoever they are, will not implement barrier systems on their other units. Hell, if I were them I'd develop a brand new mass-production drone unit with more powerful weapons and barrier shield features." Jinrai continues.

"Hmm… True. It's already been weeks since their last attack… They might just be working on one as we speak."

"That is why I developed countermeasure weapons for the Kai, ones that can be used against barrier-shielded enemies as effectively as the Minerva's against non-shielded ones." Jinrai resumes as he taps on the laptop's keyboard again, bringing up another window that displays the Minerva Kai's armaments; a gun labeled as [**MAGNUS**] and a katana-shaped sword labeled [**ECLIPSE**]. The view is then magnified upon the Magnus.

Gerald stares at the screen for a brief moment, creating an awkward silence between the two until he rolls his eyes to Jinrai.

"…Just two weapons?"

"Yeah. It's a little bit of compromise to allow greater performance for the Kai over its predecessor."

"How so?"

"Well… To start off, I made the Magnus as a separate weapon since having it built into the arms would only serve as dead weight seeing as Inami doesn't use the Minerva's particle guns as often as he used to, especially against the recent IS replica units."

"What of the _Eclipse_?"

"It's planned but I have yet to develop the weapon proper. Until then, we won't be able to field the Kai for missions."

"Not that it will need it seeing as we still have the Type One and the Buster Sword."

"As an _improvisation_, yes. Then again, the Kai does not _need_ the Type One for sustained flight."

"The Kai can fly on its own?"

"Indeed. The Minerva did not have such luxury because all of its equipment shares a central power network. Its particle guns, barrier systems, thrusters and all other applications tap into one _single_ power capacitor that's fueled by the particle generators built into the armor. The Kai doesn't suffer as much because its uses a _dual-capacitor_ system, one for the main unit and another for the main thrusters."

Gerald turns his head to the Kai that's held in its cage and notices a pair of protrusions from the back of its shoulders.

"That explains the bulk on its back."

"It's an experimental system for now. You have no idea how troublesome it was to _remake_ the Minerva's OS for the Kai just so the dual-capacitor system can work proper."

* * *

Moments later on the observation deck where Gerald sees the sky slowly consumed by the darkness of night, he turns to the console which activates a smaller hologram screen directly on top of it and he begins to browse into Praxidike's data archives. Searching deep into the confidential files, he finds an item labeled [**ATHENA**].

'_It's been a while…'_

The item opens and displays three pictures; the _IS Academy_, _Yakushima Island_ which is located off the south-western tip of mainland Japan and finally the _Tanegashima Space Center_ which is located on its neighboring island of Tanegashima. Accompanying the pictures are a few other items of various names but one of them catches his attention. The item's name is ambiguously named "_Miyanoura Project_".

'_That's right… It's been a long while. I should probably pay her a visit.'_

* * *

**========== Tanaka, Togane, Chiba Prefecture ==========**

"Ich—!"

"There we go!"

"T-Thanks…" says Inami as Tsurugi places a plaster over a small cut on his right thumb then walks over to the sink, rinsing the knife under running water to wash off the tiny blood stain on the blade's edge.

"My, you're a dummy… I told you to be careful."

"Sorry…"

She slots the knife back into a wooden rack next to the sink while he makes his way out of the kitchen carrying a tray of empty glasses and a glass jug filled with iced tea. The wooden dining table in the living room has a number of spicy dishes cooked by the two as they prepare dinner for when Kiyoshi and Reika returns. He sets the tray down on the table and places each of the four glasses next to each of the empty plates.

'_Oh yeah… I forgot to ask her that.'_

"Tsu-chan!" He calls to Tsurugi, turning his head towards the kitchen just as he places the glass jug on the table.

"Yes?"

She walks out of the kitchen with a small towel, wiping her hands.

"Reika-san told me before that tonight's meant to be a special celebration dinner… Any idea what are we celebrating?"

'_Oh no…!'_ pops up in her mind, realizing that she has forgotten to tell him something important, something involving a certain application of hers during his absence. Taken aback by her prompt short gasp, Inami raises a brow while she loses her smile and her eyes avoiding his.

"Tsu-chan…?"

Silence fills the air as she lets off a sigh and lowers her head.

"I'm so sorry, Ina-kun… I should've told you this earlier. Thing is… I… umm…"

"What? Is it serious?"

"Sort of… I'm going to enroll into the IS Academy."

Inami abruptly jerks his head backwards, his lips part and his eyes widen. Yet again, despite his reaction, his mind is still undisturbed even with various questions echoing within.

"Enrolling? That means… you'll be studying there…?"

"Yes…" she answers with her head still hung low, tightening her shut eyelids as she braces for a harsh reply.

"That's awesome!"

"—?"

Tsurugi immediately open her eyes wide and looks at him, confused at his cheery reaction as she expected otherwise. She had mustered up a great amount of courage to confess the real intent of the dinner thinking he would be angry at her for it. Yet, she got the opposite reply and her heart is filled with nothing but complete uncertainty.

"A-Awesome…? Why…?"

"What kind of question is that?" Inami asks, placing a hand on her shoulder with a beaming smile as he answers "That place is where you get to learn about the IS! It's like a prestigious school with high standards! Isn't that a good thing?"

"But… I don't understand. I thought you would be mad at me for it."

"Why would I be?"

"Well, you know… It's a boarding school. That means we won't get to be with each other as often and you just came back after your long absence… I thought you'll be angry seeing as I'll be the one disappearing this time."

"…We still have weekends."

"But we won't get to spend as much time together like we used to."

"You _want_ to study, don't you?"

"_Yes"_ is what she would've promptly replied but uncertainty still gets the best of her. She knows her priorities yet she's nervous of how he would feel about it.

"I… I do, but—"

"Then go for it! What's stopping you?"

"Are you really sure, Ina-kun?"

"Of course! I'll also support you with all I can, yeah? I'm sure your parents will too."

"Ina-kun…"

Warmth overwhelms her heart almost instantly, tossing out every bit of uncertainty from her mind upon hearing his delighted approval of her enrollment. She feels so happy that she could not contain her happiness and her eyes tear up, growing a wide smile on her face as she throws herself onto him and hugs him tight.

"Thank you…! That means so much to me!"

Inami returned the gesture, putting a hand around her waist and another behind her head, gently stroking her silky chestnut brown hair.

"C'mon now, let's save the celebration for once your parents come home, all right?"

"Yeah!"

* * *

**========== Infinite Stratos Academy ==========**

Two days passed and Kaori has a thin stack of documents in hand, one of them being the blue-colored "Student Progression File". As she walks past the cubicles towards the office's exit, she spots Maya sitting in her own cubicle, staring into blank space while giggling softly to herself. Heaving a sigh, Kaori quietly sneaks into Maya's cubicle and slowly inching her head towards her back and over her left shoulder.

"Yamada-sensei."

"KIYAAAA—!" shrieks Maya as she turns to her back in her rotary office chair, throwing up her arms as she gets startled by her fellow staff's sudden voice at such close proximity.

"Are you daydreaming again…?"

"W-What? No I wasn't! I-I'm just clearing my w-workload!"

"You already handed in your last report like _half a week_ ago. Even your computer is off and you've been giggling to yourself for the past _ten minutes_."

Maya turns back to her desk, realizing that it's completely clear of any papers or files and that her computer screen is totally blank without any glowing lights to indicate it having any power. Her face slowly reddens as she shyly turns back to Kaori.

"Umm… Sorry…"

"It's all right. Why are you here anyway? It's still summer, don't you have any holiday plans or anything?"

"I'll be going somewhere with Orimura-sensei later in the afternoon. Now I'm just waiting for her to come by."

"I see… Well at least walk around a bit, don't just sit there. You might damage your… _bottom_."

"B-Bottom?" Maya grows flustered again as Kaori then breaks out a short laughter.

"I'm just kidding! It's just unhealthy to keep sitting for hours."

"Is that so…? Guess I'll just wander around the campus grounds for a bit later. What about you, Murakumo-sensei?"

Kaori raises the blue folder in her hand.

"Working. There's a new enrollee coming in today."

* * *

"X…?"

Tsurugi steps out of a scanning port after it runs a full body scan on her to determine her basic synchronization level with the Infinite Stratos system. The pod displays her result on a screen on its cover upon closing itself. Outside the pod is Kaori, disguised as a typical Academy staff to mask any clues to her occupation as an instructor as she stares sharply at Tsurugi with her green eyes.

"Do you have any experience in using an IS before, Katami-san?"

"Not exactly."

Kaori acknowledges with a nod and ushers her out of the room then leads her towards one of the arenas for her next and final phase of enrollment. While Tsurugi is slightly disheartened by the ambiguous synchronization grade, she remains determined as she knows it is way too early to give in.

"If I may ask, Katami-san, what is your motivation to enroll in the Academy?"

"Well… I have a few, some of them personal. I'm intrigued by the impression the Infinite Stratos has made to the world and I want to learn what is it about the IS that made that impression."

The instructor remained silent. It is one of the common answers from almost every single student she has enrolled and yet, something is different for Tsurugi. While her answer may have been a template, there is honesty in her words. Particularly one word; _personal_, a word very few students use when they initially state their motivations for joining the Academy and yet, unlike the few students who mentioned "personal" as one of their motivations, Tsurugi spoke of the word as though she has nothing to hide.

"It's true that the IS has made an impression on the world. Then again, you could say the same for some of the world's advanced military hardware during their time."

"I suppose so, yes."

"And yet you chose to enroll here and not enlist in the military. Why is that?"

Tsurugi remembers Inami's five-year absence, his return and the surge of terrorist drone attacks that he has been exclusively armed to deter. Unlike Praxidike, the IS Academy is a school; life-threatening combat don't normally occur on a daily basis if there are even any. Her ideals lie in reasoning and understanding as opposed to Inami who leans more to decisive physical action with the Minerva, granted that the issues he face are life-threatening ones.

"I have a close friend whom I treasure dearly. He has seen the military way of living… and I, well…"

_Close friend? He?_ Kaori's suspicions are sparked by those words as she has previously saw her residence which also happens to be the same general location where the Minerva is seen to sortie from and return to during its past interventions.

"I see… So you're the type that would sit back to learn and understand things rather than taking decisive action."

Kaori's tone came out harsh. The words of the instructor certainly relay Tsurugi's point but the latter half has a spike to it. While it sounded condescending, she knows deep in her heart that it's not intentional. In her mind, Tsurugi knows there are times to learn and understand problems as well as the times where she'll need to commit an action to solve the problems.

The two eventually arrive at the arena complex where the Kaori shows her a locker room.

"We've prepared pilot suit of various sizes in different lockers. Suit up in the one you are most comfortable with then meet me at the hangar. It's right around the corner from that exit."

"Got it, Murakumo-san."

* * *

Moments after, Kaori waits in the arena's hangar filled with a handful of the IS Training unit, the _Uchigane_, neatly arranged on the side. Tsurugi then steps into the hangar wearing the student-default navy blue pilot suit with cobalt highlights on parts of its edges. The form-fitting suit shows off her slender figure, projecting even her C-Cup breasts which made her feel slightly uncomfortable for a short while.

"Not bad."

"T-Thanks… It's been a long while since I last wore something like this."

The instructor lets out a short scoff and a smile, directing her attention to the IS units arranged behind her.

"This is the Uchigane. Second-Generation IS units employed by the Academy for training purposes. You will be using one of these in your final phase of enrollment."

Speechless and in awe, Tsurugi's sight gets glued to the marvelous samurai-themed Uchigane. It did not matter to her what Generation the Uchigane was classified as, it's her first time seeing an IS up close that she could just put her hand forward and touch it.

"How do I get on them…?"

"Touch them."

_Touch_, the very thing she has been dying to do upon seeing the Uchigane and now Kaori has given her permission to do so. What else is left for the fresh enrollee as she gently reaches out her arm and places her hand on the Uchigane that's resting at the middle of the arrangement, sensations of euphoria surges throughout her body and mind as she feels the cold hard surface of the IS' armor.

'_This feeling… Is this how Inami felt when he first touched the Minerva…?'_

_*kyun~*_

The Uchigane emits a brief soft hum and immediately glows in bright blue light shortly after her palms made contact. The sight of the IS seemingly coming to life amazes Tsurugi beyond anything else and her body suddenly levitates while the glowing training unit disperses into wide digital streams that orbit around her. While Tsurugi's appalled by the orbiting streams as they form the Uchigane's silhouette around her limbs and abdomen, Kaori frowns lightly as though something seemed off about the IS' activation.

'_That's odd. Only S-Grade enrollees should have gotten such instantaneous reaction from an IS… but this girl's an X-Grade!'_

Within seconds, Tsurugi finds herself donning the Uchigane's armor. The elongated mechanical forearms, the armored legs with twin long skirt armors floating on both sides of her waist, covering the entirety of the Uchigane's legs and the twin floating shoulder armors suspended in place above her shoulders.

Everything is alien to Tsurugi, the feeling of being mounted with armor like those of a samurai; she couldn't even begin to describe how it feels to be one with an Infinite Stratos unit. She takes a step forward and slowly moves her arms around, wriggling her fingers, curling them into fists and twisting them about to get a feel of the Uchigane's range of movement while the Academy staff watches in amusement at her trying to grasp control of the Uchigane.

"You're really into this, Katami-san."

The instructor's prompt snatches Tsurugi's attention, abruptly ceasing her arm-swinging.

"I-I'm sorry, Murakumo-san… Guess I got too excited as this is my first time using an IS."

"That's okay… Just don't break anything. Wait here while I set up for your final enrollment test, you'll be facing an instructor who will gauge your overall capabilities with the IS. Do **not** disappoint her."

Kaori's tone was stern but Tsurugi barely showed any signs of fear. While she still doesn't quite know how to pilot the Uchigane proper, she knows there's no room for slacking. She has gotten this far and enrollment is within her grasp. It's understandable as to why the Academy would have such harsh requirements for enrollees to meet given how prestigious of an institution it is let alone the fact that it teaches its students about the highly-advanced and similarly _controversial_ Infinite Stratos.

* * *

After a brief moment, the tall hangar bay doors open towards the arena grounds. Curious of her opponent, Tsurugi steps into the arena's ground of earth and dirt meant to replicate an earth-based combat environment for students during training sessions. As she enters the area, she sees another Uchigane in the distance and is surprised upon seeing it piloted by Kaori herself, who now dons a _jet-black_ pilot suit with _orange_ highlights.

"Murakumo-san…?"

"Forgive me for not telling you earlier, Katami-san. I'm also one of the Academy's combat instructors and I will be the one to gauge your capability for your enrollment."

Tsurugi's briefly stunned by the revelation as it turns out that Kaori is an Academy instructor, a _combat_ instructor even. Nevertheless, she shakes off the feeling. She needs to pass this final test. Kaori brandishes the Uchigane's katana as its digital silhouette forms in her grip. Having not a single clue on how to deploy weaponry, Tsurugi's stuck with her fists _'…but who fights like that anymore?'_ snapped into her mind.

Despite her apparent helplessness, Tsurugi stands ready, closes her eyes and places her right hand on the left side of her waist as though she's drawing an imaginary sword from a scabbard. The instructor makes a beeline for her with the katana held in front of her right shoulder, placing every soul and heart into defeating the new enrollee.

'…_Shinken.'_

Tsurugi hears a soft hum and her hands felt a grip. Her eyelids part in a flash, barely catching sight of the instructor swinging the katana as she swings her right arm out.

***CLANG***

With just one arm holding the katana, Tsurugi parried the instructor's two-handed strike. Despite having absolute zero experience in piloting an Infinite Stratos, her family line of persistent sword training regiment was all it took to dish out a striking force right off the bat. Kaori stares dumbfounded as she feels the impact force down her arm, not strong enough to rattle her hold on her katana but it's undoubtedly the strongest hit she has blocked from a student, less likely a _fresh enrollee_.

"Interesting…! As I would expect from a child whose parents are dojo instructors!"

"How do you know?"

"Of course, I was also the one who processed your application form so I know _everything_ about you!"

"Everything—?"

***KSHIIING***

"Erk…!"

Tsurugi stumbles a few steps backwards with the katana still firm in her grip while Kaori grows a grin and charges towards her with the katana held behind her right side. She swings the katana diagonally but Tsurugi blocks the strike by putting her katana in front of her. The impact pushes her aside but she keeps her steps firm to prevent herself from falling.

"Come on now, I told you not to disappoint the instructor, didn't I?"

"I won't!"

"Prove it!"

***CLANG***

Kaori hammers her katana hard onto Tsurugi's as the edge is held over her head. After a brief moment of struggle, the instructor loses her grin as she suddenly feels her blade being pushed back, looking at Tsurugi and sees the enrollee staring at her with frowned, brown eyes. The instructor exerts force on both her hands trying to push her weapon back against Tsurugi's but her efforts merely slowed down the rate at which her katana is being pushed back.

"I'll prove to you… my family's legacy of one-handed swordsmanship! You will not be disappointed, Murakumo-sensei!"

"Heh… Now that's more like it."

***KSHIIING***

Tsurugi breaks the parry and Kaori boosts away, leaving a wide gap between them.

"One more, Katami-san. Make my Monday better!"

"Yes, Sensei!"

Breaking another grin, Kaori dashes forward with her katana held in front of her right chest while Tsurugi, holding her katana low behind the left side of her waist, runs head-on towards her opponent. The heavy metal steps of the Uchigane's feet rocks the ground in her path as the two swing their weapons out towards each other.

* * *

**=== [End of Chapter 9] ===**

* * *

**Author's Note: **_And thus, the story transits from one arc to another. While the pilot arc introduces the Minerva to the IS-verse, the next follows Tsurugi as a new student of the IS Academy. As per this chapter's publishing, I will take a hiatus to re-draft chapters for the next arc of Athena._

_Once again, I would like to express my appreciation for those who have been reading Athena, especially those who took the time to write reviews for this story, thank you so much! Keep them coming as the story goes, yeah? I really do appreciate them as they help a lot when I need the drive to write this story._

_Till we meet again in the next chapter, fellow readers._


End file.
